"Is this how it feels to be on top of the world?" Alasia sits at the edge and swings her legs. "This view is amazing."
Ricardo sits down next to Alasia. "Yeah, it really is."
Alasia scoots closer to Ricardo before reaching for his hand. "You want to know why I'm always on the run?"
"Because you're a rogue Esper?" Ricardo holds onto her hand.
"Not just that—it's because I am the first Esper." Alasia whispers in his ear. "When you asked if I believed in aliens, I didn't deny them, because in the eyes of everyone else, I am an alien."
"Only an alien can relate to another alien, wouldn't you agree?" Ricardo smiles.
"I guess that's true." Alasia rests her head on his shoulder. "Hey, Ricardo…"
"Mhm."
"Let's never leave or give up on each other, and be of use to one another," Alasia says. "Do you promise?"
"Yes, let's face whatever tomorrow may bring, together," Ricardo promises. He knows it's going to be an unkept promise, but even so, he wants to make this girl feel happy while he can. It's what he's been trying to do his whole life—for Celestara, Aurion, everyone in the administration, and now Alasia.
"Pinky promise?" Alasia reaches out her hand.
Ricardo intertwines his pinky with hers. "Pinky promise."
The couple enjoys the grand cityscape together for a little longer. The cool night air brushes against Alasia's skin, sending a slight chill across her body. Ricardo takes off his suit jacket and puts it on her. The magical warmth from the jacket shields her from the piercing cold air.
"Let's head back now. I don't want you to get sick," Ricardo suggests.
"…Sure." Alasia blushes and looks away.
Ricardo picks up Alasia in his arms. "This might feel weird for a first-timer."
"What?" The scenery around her begins to twist into recognizable patterns before rematerializing into the scene of the apartment. "What just happened?"
"Teleportation happened," Ricardo explains before setting her down on the ground.
Alasia stares at him for a moment. She isn't sure if she's shocked, confused, or a mixture of both.
"I'm going to take a shower—no peeking, okay?"
"Don't worry, I won't," Ricardo says. He picks up the notebook on the table after hearing the closing of the bathroom door. "I'm sure you have a script in mind. What's my role?"
Reality Breaker shifts back into a pen before responding on the blank page. "Do what you do best—be the knight in shining armor that saves the princess."
"And if I refuse?"
"The floral shop always has white lilies for sale."
Ricardo takes a deep breath. "What do I do next?"
"I will leave a significant source of psychic energy in this area, and they will find her tomorrow morning. I need you to watch from the sidelines," Reality Breaker writes.
"What about you?"
"I will stay by her side for when the moment comes." Reality Breaker absorbs the ink on the page back into itself.
The bathroom door opens after a couple of minutes. Alasia, now wrapped in a towel, walks out. A sweet scent of lavender fills the air as she walks into the living room. "H-hey Ricardo, do you want to…"
"Want to…?" Ricardo asks for clarification.
"Like…" Alasia blushes.
"Like what?"
"You know what? Never mind!" Alasia walks to her bedroom and closes the door.
"Alasia, what were you going to say?" Ricardo calls out.
"It's nothing!" Alasia yells. "I'm tired now!"
Ricardo looks to Reality Breaker. "What did I even do?"
"I'm just a sword—how am I supposed to know?" Reality Breaker writes.
Ricardo sighs and takes out a pen from his pocket. He tears out a page from the notebook before writing a brief message on it. He quietly walks to Alasia's door, but as he prepares to knock, his hand freezes in midair. He wants to see this girl's smile again before leaving her to her demise, but he knows that same smile will make him question his own decision. Ricardo pulls Reality Breaker off his neck, and the necklace turns into a small puddle of black liquid before making its way through the door crack. Ricardo turns off the light in the living room and puts on his suit jacket. He stands in the darkness all alone. He hasn't felt something like this for a long time now, even though he spent most of his early life in darkness. He glances at Alasia's bedroom for the final time. "Good night, my love."
*****
Alasia wakes up from an unexpected alarm that she had set the day before. Her sleep last night was unusually peaceful and calming, unlike the insomniac nights she's used to. She stumbles out of the bedroom to head to the bathroom. The apartment is awfully quiet, with no sign of anyone else.
"Ricardo?" Alasia calls out.
No response.
Alasia walks to the other bedroom only to see that it's empty. She sees a sheet of paper on the living room table that reads "I'll be back, I promise."
"At least tell me when you'll be back," Alasia says to herself.
Knock knock.
"Is he back already?" Alasia whispers. "Wait no, Ricardo isn't the type of person to knock on doors…"
The side of the wall where the door is located suddenly explodes into pieces. A large seven-foot man charges straight at Alasia. Her smaller body allows her to get out of the way with ease, but there's no way for her to take him on in a fight by herself. A quiet gunshot goes off from outside the apartment, and before Alasia can react, a small dart hits her through the dust. Her body begins to lose its strength; she falls to the ground as the world around her begins to turn blurry.
A young woman around the same age as Alasia walks into the now destroyed living room. "Our work is done here—don't forget our paycheck."
"Of course." An older gentleman in a white lab coat gestures to a couple of guys behind him to carry Alasia into the car. "Thanks for your assistance."
"No need for all this verbal bullshit—you know what we want." She says. "Alright, lil bro, let's go."
The old man watches as the two siblings disappear into the alleyway. "Very soon, superpowers won't be exclusive only to people like you."
*****
Ricardo stands thousands of feet above the air, watching over this strange city in silence. His suit jacket flutters freely behind him as he slowly walks through the air. The sky is cloudy, but the weather is still quite hot and humid.
One percent of my power is enough to handle these ants. Ricardo unleashes a small portion of power. "Celestial Technique: Amplify."
The small portion of power Ricardo withdrew begins to grow stronger. Although he still doesn't have enough power to use any Authorities, he can, however, use most Celestial Techniques.
Boom.
Ricardo takes a small step forward and travels hundreds of miles in a mere second. He lands in an alleyway near the secret apartment. In front of him stands a tall man and a young woman. "If you apologize, I can give you a quick death."
"Who the fuck is this guy?" The young woman curses. "Lil bro, get him out of the way."
Ricardo rips the man's heart out of his body in an instant and kicks him into the building behind. The shockwave from the kick shatters the glass from the surrounding apartments. He crushes the warm and still beating heart with his bare hand.
"Wait! I'm sorry! I have money—I can give you anything that you want, please—"
"I am very impatient today." Ricardo grabs her head and tightens his grasp slowly, crushing her skull in a matter of seconds. He takes out a handkerchief from his suit to wipe the gore from his hand. His anger rages like a tidal wave, but he rarely shows it on his face. Ricardo has always felt the concept of emotions to be foreign to him. He didn't understand why they were necessary until he met Celestara. She told him that it feels good to be happy, and not so good to be sad. From that point on, he wanted to be happy and make everyone around him happy, because it was the right thing to do. At least, that's what he believes.
*****
"Looks like your shitty taste hasn't changed after all these years." Alasia mocks. Her body is currently locked onto the operating table. "If I can get out once, I can get out a second time!"
"It is a pleasure for me to operate on such a beautiful lady like yourself. And of course, extensive measures have been taken here." The old doctor gestures to all the soldiers around the lab. He then walks towards Alasia with a dozen needled pipes. "Don't worry, this won't hurt."
"What are you doing?!" Alasia tries to break free from the metal braces, but the effect of the neurotoxin has yet to wear off. She groans as the doctor starts to insert the cold needles into her skin. The sensation of multiple needles sinking deep into her arteries is more than just pain—it's also humiliation and powerlessness. Alasia feels like nothing more than a puppet, ready to be controlled by the doctor.
"This will be a quick and painless death." The old doctor smiles and presses one of the switches next to the operating table.
The pipes are suddenly filled with dark red liquid. Alasia feels immense fatigue spreading throughout her body as her blood is being drained at a rapid rate. Her vision begins to blur, and her eyelids become heavy. She knows she only has minutes to live, but perhaps this was an ending that she deserved a long time ago. No pain, no remorse, but one regret. She wishes that she should have stayed up a little longer last night, so she could see his face for a while longer.
"Ricardo…"
*****
As the clock strikes noon, the intense beam of sunlight clears up the cloudy sky. As more and more jeeps pull into the military base, the soldiers begin to get ready for what looks to be a potential conflict. The loud whirring of Apache attack helicopters drowns out most of the conversation on the ground. Ricardo quietly walks towards the base from afar. Without his Authorities, he does not know Alasia's situation at the current moment. All he can do is keep moving and play the role assigned to him. He pulls out a silver metallic object from his pocket realm—it's a part of a broken blade. Despite being incomplete, the edge still shines with lethality.
"Celestial Technique: Fusion."
A burst of blue flames erupts from Ricardo's vicinity. The ground beneath his feet begins to melt into magma under the immense temperature. Combined with the effects of Amplification, Ricardo's psychic awareness is doubled without the need to withdraw more power. Every inch of air, every speck of dust bows to his presence. As Ricardo moves closer to the base, the sound of artillery shells exploding surrounds him. The metallic shrapnel immediately melts as it enters the range of blue flames.
Thud thud thud.
A dozen machine guns are now firing in Ricardo's direction. He continues forward, unbothered by the suppressive gunfire. The broken blade flies out of his hand at supersonic speeds, slicing everything in its way. Soon, the artillery fire ceases, and the machine guns are no longer firing. Ricardo burns through the barricade with ease, piles of blood cover every inch of the base with no signs of remains. The silver blade returns to Ricardo after eliminating every known threat in the base. A wave of frigid air rushes towards him from the laboratory, clusters of clouds gather in the sky above, and snowflakes begin to descend upon the area. Buds of blood-red crystals begin to form on the bloody puddles around the base. Ricardo knows this presence far better than anyone. This level of qualitative change can only mean one thing—the awakening of an Authority! A towering crystal of ice rises from the center of the laboratory. Atop the crystal is a young woman with flowing white hair in a white dress. Her presence is now completely different, but her physical features remain the same.
I see, if I am the knight in shining armor, Alasia is the princess, does that mean you volunteer to be the evil dragon?
"You promised!" Alasia rages, her powerful voice scattering the flowing snowflakes.
Her body is too weak to handle an Authority, Ricardo thinks to himself. You really decided to leave a mess like this for me, huh.
Alasia appears right in front of Ricardo before striking him with her sword made of ice. He swiftly turns his body to avoid the attack, but the ground behind him is now covered in sharp crystals. Not even Fusion could melt through the ice created by Alasia. Her attacks are precise and deadly; they almost remind Ricardo of someone he had fought years ago. Their speed in the air is almost identical, but the effect of Amplification helps Ricardo outpace her just slightly. Alasia slices through the blue flames, extinguishing them completely, and aims straight for Ricardo's chest. Ricardo suddenly teleports behind Alasia, kicking her onto the ground below.
"Celestial Technique: Disintegrate!" Ricardo summons a large beam of light aimed straight at Alasia. The beam pierces directly into the ground below, destroying a substantial portion of the military base. However, a cluster of ice begins to encase the beam of light at its base.
"Abyssal Technique: Entombment." Alasia freezes Ricardo's attack and shatters it. She flies into the air, her glowing red eyes staring directly at Ricardo. The temperature of the air is now near freezing. The air current begins to center around Alasia, creating a large snowstorm. The power of the storm begins to grow exponentially stronger as it engulfs everything beneath.
Looks like I underestimated the situation. Authority of Ice will slowly decrease the temperature of everything to absolute zero. Ricardo shakes off the ice forming on his hand. "Authority of Omnipotence: Collapse."
The snowstorm disperses, the sky clears, the chaos around Ricardo quiets down. He flies to catch Alasia as she begins to fall to the ground. Ricardo hovers his hand above her chest to seal the power of her Authority.
Alasia opens her eyes moments later. "Ricardo… I knew you wouldn't break our promise."
"Of course, why would I?" Ricardo smiles.
"I don't know. Maybe because you are the creator of the multiverse?" Alasia teases.
"How did you—"
"Reality Breaker told me everything before I woke up." Alasia explains, her hair starting to return to its original color. "I'm so tired, but at least I can protect myself now."
"Your current body can't handle the power of your Authority yet," Ricardo corrects. "Give it some more time."
"Fine, what do I do now?" Alasia asks.
"I'm not sure—Reality Breaker didn't inform me about the process either," Ricardo replies.
"How about we go on a vacation?" Alasia suggests.
"Where?"
"Anywhere, as long as I'm with you."