CRAAASHHH!!!!
A figure crashes down from the ceiling, gaping the roof to the open sky. From the hunched posture, body sizzling- the figure stands up; covered in black feathers from head to toe, while the only thing exposed is her face.
"M- Ms. Song?" Clarice stammered.
"Witness me!" Said the figure, as its feathered cloak unravels, displaying her full body; wings protrude from the head, the back, the arms, and hips.
"The next step of Noctum!"
It was Ms. Song
Smiling ear to ear, her eyes black as void down to the sclera, yet her face remains the same sickly white.
"Clariiiice, deeeeaaar. Do you like this innovation R&D provided?"
Clarice quivers uncontrollably as she steps back "Oh God… what did they do to you?"
Ms. Song chuckled "A new version of Noctum dear" she looked down to see the puddle of pus and glass shards "I see you've tried to quell the future, that I promised…
Hehehe, no matter. It was inferior- but this; this new version gives me; faster healing, more tolerance to pain, and a genetic mutation- no, a gift of which living being I sacrifice under my maw! Ending the both-"
Claire does a puppet gesture "Blah, blah, blah! So what if you ate a pigeon? This doesn't change the fact that you're still rotten to the bone!" Claire pointed aggressively.
She locks onto Claire's eyes "Ah, Claire! Or should I say 'pixie'?"
Claire recoils her body, gritting her teeth.
"What's wrong? You think I'm not aware of your side-hustle? You were always such a waste, you had every aspect to become a headmistress, and yet you rebel against this institute with every opportunity."
Then Claire looks at Clarice with a stupid face, pretending to be shocked. Then she jerks her thumb at Ms. Song. Clarice bites her lip, snickering, trying not to laugh. "Stop!" she whispers
But Ms. Song keeps monologing, gazing at the hole on the ceiling, beaming its light, illuminating the room. "Even as the light of sky punishes me for my dreams, they are dreams nonetheless-"
She looks back at Claire, she's yawning while waving her head around- Clarice was covering her mouth while her eyes were squinting.
"IS SOMETHING FUNNY?!"
At the last second Clarice shouted "It was Claire!" She pointed at her sister, while Claire's face locked-in in an instant, like nothing happened.
Ms. Song rushes to the both of them, pinning the both of them via choke on the neck. "I've just had enough of the both of you!" Then she opens her mouth, gaping beyond her lips, exposing the fangs underneath. Attempting to bite Claire- luckily she was able to kick Ms. Song at the jaw just in time.
"Reece!"
While Clarice snapped Ms. Song's forearm was grasping her in a chokehold.
Pulling her arm back, she let's go of the twins- hissing, hunched in pain.
Claire whispered "Reece, I'm gonna need you to zone her out- Imma have to ask you to thug a few hits"
"Sure, what're you gonna do?"
Claire pulls out a knife from her waist, smiling at her sister
Clarice notices "Hey isn't that June's?"
"Yep- why was it in your bag?"
Ms. Song thrust two wings forward like twin blades. The twins dove outward—Claire left, Clarice right—the feathers slicing through the space where they'd stood moments before.
But Ms. Song didn't retract. She thrashed.
The wings became a storm. Black feathers whipped in frantic arcs, each one catching the light filtering through the ceiling hole. The air itself seemed to pulse with the movement. Clarice caught glimpses—a silhouette here, a flash of white face there—but never long enough to orient. Never long enough to strike.
Her eyes couldn't track it. Her body kept flinching, anticipating strikes that came from impossible angles. The sound was nauseating: the wet thwack of feathers cutting air, the whoosh of displaced wind that made her ears pop.
Claire had her fists up, muscles coiled, waiting for an opening. Clarice felt it too—that razor-thin window when the wings paused mid-swing. A quarter-second where Ms. Song was vulnerable.
Clarice's fist tightened. This was it—
The wings moved again. The opening collapsed. Clarice's muscles unlocked with frustration.
Again. Another gap. Another false promise. Another moment where she could almost reach—
Then Ms. Song pivoted.
The wings didn't retract; they spread—wide, wide, impossibly wide—and in that brief second of exposure, five claws extended from Ms. Song's palm.
Clarice saw them coming but couldn't move.
SHRAK—
The claws punched through her chest like teeth through paper. Blood and pus sprayed outward as the tips burst through her back, pinning her hard against the wall. The wallpaper split, the plaster cracked beneath her weight.
Clarice gasped, her whole body convulsing on the impact. The pain was immediate and absolute—not sharp, but deep, like something fundamental had been torn open.
Ms. Song's face was inches from hers now, that void-black gaze grinning ear to ear.
"Predictable," she whispered.
Claire's scream cut across the room "REECE!" sprinting towards the grown woman. The wings behind Ms. Song strikes sideward, upward, even downward
SMASH!
snapping the floorboards- erecting from the surface, but Claire just sidesteps, leans back, and weaves through all of it. She jumps out of the protruding floorboards then stretches her arm squeezing through the wings then STAB striking Ms. Song straight in the spine- Michael Jordan style.
Screeching, she pulls out her arm out of Clarice's chest- with Claire still hanging onto the knife ledged on Ms. Song's spine as she tries to reach the young girl, Claire's body dangles hanging on the knife's pommel. With each swing, dragging the blade down, gaping the wound open even further.
"RAAAAAAAAGGGHH" Clarice roars as a sound of a limb getting torn from its joints is heard, squelching as bodily fluids splashes all over the room.
SHHHHHRRRAAAAK
Claire blitzes in the speed of sound, ripping Ms. Song's head clean from her neck, spine still attached!
Her lifeless body drops to the floor, then Clarice lands down from the grown woman's height, then squeezing the severed head with both hands as it explodes, vertebrae tumbling on the floor.
"Holy shit!..." Claire whispered.
Clarice looks behind her sister "Y- you okay?"
Claire panting, scrambling her hands on her head- checking if she still has it "Thanks, I thought I was gonna be a rotisserie chicken for a second there" she giggled nervously. "So it's over huh?"
"No, she mentioned she regenerates faster than me" Clarice said in such an edgy tone.
Suddenly, blood vessels start sprouting from the corpse's neck, along with the bones calcifying, taking form.
"What? So we're just gonna let her heal? C'mon!" said Claire as she bolted towards the corpse
"Claire, wait!" she reaches out
While Claire was coming towards Ms. Song; while her headless corpse is regenerating her head, it pushes itself up from the ground as it flaps its wings whilst feathers sway away from its surroundings, Claire still tries to damage the body with a knife, but one of the major wings pushes her away, knocking her to the air, then smashing her into Clarice then BANG the both of them cashing onto a wall.
Both of them bicker while Ms. Song's body was standing, resting its own head.
Both of them were standing up, groaning in pain "Crap! Reece, got any plans?"
She gets up slouched to her knees "I hope you still got some steam left in you, because we gotta beat her ass until she turns to dust"
Claire shakes her head "That's gonna be a tall order Reece, but if it's about ending this? I'm all in!"
Ms. Song's head was all exposed muscle, the skin quickly wrapped around the head as the tiny wings on her head began to sprout back, her wings gust away the surroundings as she flew up, then dived towards the both of them.
Slashing behind with her talons, she grazes both of them. Claire tries to block the swipe with her shins, while Clarice guarded it with her forearms, knocking them both back.
Facing them, Ms. Song stretches her wings, gritting her fangs at the two; the twins square up- taking quick glances at each other right as they nod, Clarice charges forward, while Claire charges around.
With wild heavy swings, Clarice throws a right backhand, a left hook, then as she was facing behind, right back kick. Ms. Song catches by the ankle, but Claire elbows her arm, breaking it in the process- thus letting go of Clarice.
While her broken arm dangles, Claire kicked her so hard she slammed her back to the wall, as she was pinned, Claire gatling punches her stomach; while she was getting shoeshined, she tries to swipe Claire in the face- in the last second, Claire leaned back, then BOOM! Delivers a nasty heel kick to the jaw, convulsing her whole body.
Before Ms. Song could recover, Clarice leaps into the air, she delivers a roundhouse kick to Ms. Song's face, knocking her to the side along with a few molars.
Even so, while Clarice was still mid-air; Ms. Song uppercuts her by the stomach, hunching Clarice up, then slamming her fist on her back, then down to the floor. But luckily Claire catches her by her waist, almost losing her balance, she chucks Clarice to the side.
While Claire was looking away, Ms. Song took this opportunity to aim of Claire's neck, so she thrusts her claws at Claire, but she was quick to parry it with her knife- Ms. Song blocks Claire's vision with her wings swiping left and right, both were parried by the knife, but with her wings still covering her upper Claire looks around.
Spotting Ms. Song's legs still exposed, Claire delivers a lightning fast shin kick, staggering Ms. Song- causing her to unfurl her wings. Claire slashes twice on her stomach in an x pattern, causing Ms. Song to hunch down. Claire even followed it with a sweeping leg kick, fully dropping Ms. Song to her side. Ms. Song grunted
"Oof! You've got some spunk h-"
Then Clarice soccer kicks her on the head as it detaches clean off! Blood puss began to spurt like a fountain from her arteries.
"Eugh! Gross! I think I got some in my mouth" then she began to gag with her tongue out.
"You okay Pix?" Clarice looked back
She burps "Aw man, I really hope that doesn't fuck up my guts in the long run" She gazes on the corpse again "Hey! Crush the head while it's loose!"
Clarice crosses her arms "Our regeneration doesn't work that way- I think?"
"How long do you think we should keep this up? She might catch up on our rhythm, and that'd be a nightmare!" Said Claire as she scratched her head.
Clarice presses her foot down on the severed head, the sole of her shoe sinks into exposed muscle and bone, pus gushes—from the eye sockets, the mouth, the severed neck stump. It sprays across the floor in thick, yellowish rivulets that smell like rot and copper, with each downward pressure, the head flattens further. Bone cracks. Brain matter oozes. The skull collapses inward like an overripe fruit.
Clarice doesn't look away. Doesn't flinch. Just keeps crushing.
Claire gags, turning her head. "Eugh, I am never gonna get used to you guys basically being... whatever this is." She covers her mouth, breathing shallowly through her nose. The smell is getting to her—that acrid, medicinal stench of pus mixing with blood. Her stomach churns.
Then something changes.
Ms. Song's body, still crumpled across the floor, begins to move. Tendons snap into place first—thin crimson threads extending from the shoulder stump, reaching, grasping for the crushed remains of her own head. Bones calcify next, vertebrae clicking audibly as they stack and fuse. Muscle fibers weave together, tissue knitting with a wet, organic squelch.
The skin comes last—slower, struggling. It crawls across the exposed muscle like something alive, pulling tight, too tight. Hair sprouts from the scalp reforming at the neck stump. Feathers unfurl in chaotic spirals.
But something is wrong.
The face that reforms is not the one they've been fighting. It's older. The skin hangs differently. Lines bracket her mouth. Her eyes—still black voids, but tired. Sunken cheeks. A jawline that's lost definition.
She looks like she's in her 40s. Maybe older.
Ms. Song's newly reformed face contorts with a leer—rage and something else. Her breaths were ragged and her teeth were bare. Her body trembles as she rises.
Clarice whispers, her voice barely steady: "Oh crap. It still works."
Claire glances at her sister. "What?"
Clarice looks behind. "She's getting older. Vamps like us show damage through age."
Claire's eyes go wide. "That means—"
Understanding hits like lightning.
In a blur, Claire disappears.
A moment later—CRASH—her body punches through the ceiling. Debris explodes outward. Plaster dust hangs in the air like smoke. A hole opens to the sky, and sunlight floods through, cutting sharp geometric patterns across the floor.
"CLAIRE!" Clarice screamed, her voice raw.
Without hesitation, Clarice sprinted toward the light—and the moment her skin crossed the threshold, it began to burn immediately. The smell of her own charring flesh filled her nostrils. Smoke rose from her arms. But she kept going, kept pushing through the agony because Claire was still up there.
She caught her sister mid-air. Claire's momentum was catastrophic—the impact of her body combined with gravity made Clarice's arms scream. Her feet skidded backward across the floor. She couldn't stop it. The two of them tumbled end-over-end, rolling across the room floor in a tangle of limbs and blood.
Clarice's back slammed against the ground. Hard. The air punched from her lungs.
For a moment, she just lay there, gasping, cradling Claire against her chest. Clarice's skin was smoking where the sunlight had touched it. Blistered. Raw.
"Y-you okay?" Clarice stammered, her voice cracking.
Claire nodded weakly, her eyes glassy. "Hehe... it's so weird being saved by you—" She paused, her gaze shifting behind Clarice. Her voice went urgent. "Reece. Behind you!"
Clarice spun.
Ms. Song was diving. Wings spread wide, talons extended, her body cutting through the air like a missile. The wind roared around her—a sound like a jet engine. Her face was twisted in fury.
Without thinking, Clarice pulled Claire tighter against her chest.
Then impact.
CRASH.
The three of them smashed through the courtyard floor. Wood splintered. Stone cracked.
BOOM
They plummeted through the darkness below—a classroom.
BOOM
Then a hallway
BOOM
Then another room.
Each impact sent shockwaves through Clarice's body.
Floor after floor after floor.
Until finally—BOOM—they burst through into the courtyard proper, the open sky above them.
But the tumble separated them.
Clarice and Ms. Song rolled across the shaded grass, coming to rest near the building's shadow. Ms. Song's body was sizzling. Her skin smoked. Her wings twitched uselessly. She was breathing hard, each exhale a pained rasp.
Clarice pushed herself up on trembling arms, her muscles screaming. Her skin was blistered from the sunlight exposure. Pus ran down her forearms. Hissing as the pain got persistent.
But Claire… Claire had rolled the other direction. Away from the shadows. Into the open sun.
Students, faculty, and members of the clergy gathered around to the source of the impact, drawn by the violence. Some pressed against windows, palms flat against the glass. Others crowded through doorways, craning their necks to see into the courtyard below. A few stood directly beneath the massive hole Ms. Song had torn through the ceiling and floors, looking up through the daylight to the chaos courtyard.
One can hear the crowd of voices, murmuring during the commotion. All of them are squeezing their bodies against each other, just to witness what's going on.
Due to the fact Clarice protected Claire, her body was still intact, however the intensity of the impacts was enough to knock her unconscious.
Clarice's body however was mangled up; arms and legs were broken, to the point where most of her bones were literally poking out of her skin, she remains conscious as her limbs automatically snap back together bit by bit. Hissing and groaning as her body regenerates, pulling the bones back to her own flesh as the skin covers these wounds.
She notices that her skin becomes pigmented and wrinkles become more visible, lines on her eye bags and her temples begin to form wrinkles as well- her body stops sizzling. She looked like she was in her 30s by now
Ms. Song on the other hand- body was still sizzling as the blackness of her feathers began to fade, showing streaks of brown. However her face sags a lot more than before- her eyes more sunken, her jowls more droopy, visible streaks of white hair run down her scalp, along with the tiny wings on her head showing streaks of feathers with faded colors. She now looks like she's in her 60s.
With heavy breaths, she looks at her surroundings. The sunrays blocked by the silhouette of the campus. She closes her eyes while she shakes her head- laughing.
"Hehehehe *sigh* you two really are something. Gifted since birth."
She stands up, creepily walking towards Clarice.
"Always believed you two had the guts to be the next headmistress, we tried everything to please the both of you. Yet both of you still revolted-"
Finally right next to her, she picks Clarice up from the ground via choke, slowly raising her body overhead, dangling in the air. Ms. Song's eyes locked onto Claire's swollen face
Claire regains her consciousness, arising from the grass- she spots a vial of pus with a labeled sticker on it. However it was too far to be read.
"What do you expect to get from this after killing me hm? Overthrow me? Restore- no, make a new age of this institute by afflicting them with Noctum hm?"
Veins start bulging Clarice's face as she struggles to break Ms. Song's grip using her hands- face turning blue while Ms. Song continues to interrogate her.
"TELL ME! What will you have after years of my absence? What kind of change do you 'dream'?!"
She tightens her grip with rage as her arms quiver
"TELL ME?!"
She now squeezes her neck with both hands, veins on her arms bulging as her muscles twitch
"TELL ME?!"
Then she snaps Clarice's neck
The entire campus murmurs stops with a gasp, followed by deafening silence, as Clarice's body went limp, dangling from Ms. Songs grip.
Then… she lets go.
Clarice's body slumps on the ground, while Ms. Song turns around; looking at the people overlooking the scene. She smirks, shaking her head in disbelief as she whispers to herself.
"*sigh* I guess the cat's out of the bag huh? No point in hiding it now."
She stretches out her arms along with her wings
"Witness! The face of senseless defiance!"
While she was speaking, facing the crowd. Claire kept darting her eyes between the labeled vial on the grass and Ms. Song doing her speech. Carefully she starts crawling close. Ms. Song continues:
"You all may be alarmed by my appearance, I am still the headmistress you all know well, however don't let my presence startle you, for this is the look for a better future"
Stealthily, Claire grabs the vial right beside Ms. Song, then she slowly crawls back to Clarice. Without saying a word, she rolls Clarice's body, with its back against the ground.
*plap* *plap* *plap*
She lightly slaps Clarice's face, trying to wake her up- however she notices that her sister's face was wrinkling up like a prune. Then she frisks Clarice's jacket. In her breast pocket, she felt something stiff. Pulling it out it a vial of Noctum, with an injector attached- yet she noticed the label looked different, sticking it side by side, the one beside Ms. Song states
"Version 2 - prototype formula. USE WITH CAUTION!"
While this was happening, Ms. Song was still yapping.
"Eliminating weaknesses within our blood will be the first step into ushering a new era of power! And this-" she stretches her arms in a T position "Is the first step of a new era!"
"And the second step is your rotting corpse on a stick!" Claire shouted
Ms. Song looks behind her, seeing Claire sitting right beside Clarice's body.
"Even in defeat you still yearn for victory!"
"Whatever you old hag!... You a bad bitch?"
"What- the audacity!"
"Answer the question ya walking prune, ARE. YOU. A BAD. BITCH?"
"I'm not here to play your game, you brat!" said Ms. Song as she walks towards the twins, menacingly.
Claire flashes out a nasty punchable stank face
"Because we're the BADDEST BITCHES-"
She raise her hand, only for Ms. Song to spot the vial she lost. She shouts "No! NO!"
Claire screams
"-IN THE WORLD!"
Then slams the prongs of the injector on Clarice's neck. Immediately the injector does its work- it drains the entire vial in seconds.
Then her eyes open
In a flash, blue fire erupted from Clarice's body, like she was on fire, yet it didn't seem to burn her. Then it started to violently spread across the grass fields turning into red, like how most fires are supposed to burn. Claire and Ms. Song covered their faces right before the fire reached them.
Clarice's face seem to return to her own age; opening her eyes, she rises her body using her elbows to the ground
"Wha- what happened?" Said Clarice
"Reece, you're an Arcana…"
"A what?"
Ms. Song walks close to them "No child, she's a god… I always knew I picked the right sister"
Claire blocks right in front of Clarice saying "So it's all coming together-" she points at Ms. Song "You knew that we would use our powers against you, so you tried everything to suppress them.
Look at your hair!"
Ms. Song glances at her own hair.
Claire continues "You tried hiding this fact, so you forced us into hiding our powers, down to our hairs! Hiding the fact that some of us are Arcanas" she glances at Clarice behind her "and some may be Gods…
Because you weren't!"
A teacher stepped back from the window. Her hand went to her mouth.
Around her, students leaned closer. Whispers spread. A nun crossed herself.
In the doorway, June in the distance already packing a bag, turned to face Ms. Song, shading her eyes with her eyes brows
Another student crossed their arms and stared.
Then another.
Ms. Song looks behind her right before snapping back to Claire, shouting
"STOP THIS!"
Claire continues "So you create something that's remotely an Arcana, and yet you still fail. So instead you end up as a walking, rotting, reeking corpse, mangled by your own gluttony instead of something you always wanted, but you're really not!
And you're scared! Scared straight that no one will continue your legacy, so you resort in grooming children like us, we're not fucking dumb Kim! We can see through your lies, you as an adult should know that"
Ms. Song puts her foot down at Claire shouting "You will address me as Headmistress and you have no right to speak like that to me! I am the leader here!"
Claire nodded "Yeah, you are a leader! You're the worst leader I've ever met! Staying in Cydonia made me realize how you fucked evey single one of us!
The clergy
The faculty
And especially the students
You enforce your beliefs into every one of us, so you can stroke your own ego! So you can feel a semblance of control!"
"ENOUGH!"
She swats Claire back with a backhand, luckily she was able to block it with both arms in time. She went flying but for a few seconds of rolling, she regains her footing- as she does, she drags her feet on the ground as brakes.
"Claire! You okay?!"
Claire puts her arms down, only to witness that it has massive bruises on each forearm. "I'm good! But holy shit this hurts!"
Then a blur passes by Clarice- it was Ms. Song screaming "I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YOU BRAT!" Charging to claw Claire's guts out.
But in an instant
Clarice stops her by the wrist, blue fire emanating from her hands, burning Ms. Song's wrist
"Not this time Kim"
Then socks her in the face with a mean blazing haymaker, then an uppercut, then a hammerfist. Then Claire double teams with a knee to the face, Clarice with a jab, Claire again with a drop kick, then Clarice finishes with a fireblast, pushing Ms. Song far into the sunlight.
The three of them notice that the shade caused by the campus building is slowly shrinking. The sun was about to hit noon.
Ms. Song's body starts sizzling under the light.
"Well look at that, looks like it's almost lunchtime"
Before Clarice realizes it, the sun was already beaming at her hand, however instead of tucking her arm back in, she just stares at her hand sizzling under the heat, while Claire's head was already exposed under the sunlight, completely unharmed. Claire smells the smoke coming out of Clarice's hand as she looks.
"Reece, your hand!"
Now Clarice tucks it in, somehow- her face lights up
"Pix, you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Claire shook her head "Reece no! I'm not gonna let you risk your life just for hers to be gone"
Clarice implies "But when she gets her hands on you, the fight's gonna reset without you in the equation" Claire looks down, with her lips pursed. Clarice touches her by the shoulder and says
"Don't worry, I've got a plan- you're just gonna have to trust me"
In a blink of an eye, Ms. Song dashes forward, leaving a trail of dirt behind, she stretches her claws aiming at Claire. In a nick of time Clarice blocks her way, but her charge was too strong so she dragged Clarice's body on the grass, with no signs of stopping, Claire rushed behind Clarice to stop the momentum. As she succeeded, Ms. Song was still locked onto Clarice as the both of them had their hands clasped together while she pushed Clarice lower to the ground.
However Claire vaulted herself onto Clarice's shoulders, jumping in the air, and preparing a drop kick as she lands. Ms. Song looks up as she notices her face was being shaded, WHACK Claire hits her face with both heels on her nose, caving her face in.
Rattled, Ms. Song loses her balance. Clarice takes the opportunity to throw a punch and a jab, spewing fireballs out of her fists, hitting both of Ms. Song's legs, the pressure makes her drop to her knees. Then Clarice stretches her arms upwards as her hands were blazing. Slamming it down, she releases a blue fire whip, slamming onto Ms. Song, but she blocked it with her wings, and the flames dissipated. But her vision is blocked. As soon as she takes a peek within her wings, Claire pries it open by doing a tornado kick through the feathers, with the heel caving her face in.
This forced her wings to spread open, revealing her nose to be bleeding with pus, and her back bending backwards. Then she tries to poke Claire's eyes with her feathers, Claire puts her guard up blocking it. Ms. Song tries to rend her guts, but Claire raises her shins up- slashing those instead. It cut through her skin and scratched her bones, hissing in pain as she recoiled.
Claire hunches down in pain, as Clarice releases a fire blast peeking right over Claire's head. The blast slams right onto Ms. Song's face briefly blinding her, Clarice releases a powerful fire blast aimed at Ms. Song, blocking it with her wings- ducking down the blast, she flies underneath the azure flames, in one swift motion she grabs Clarice by the arm; losing focus, the flames coming out of her hand stopped.
Then Ms. Song thrusts her talons onto Clarice's stomach, piercing so deep that the claws erupted from her back, Ms. Song grabs her spine and rips it out from her stomach. Clarice's legs gave in as she plops on the ground.
But then Claire smashes a double hammerfist onto Ms. Song's knee, breaking it sideways. Ms. Song uses her good leg, kicking Claire far away from the shade. Clarice tried crawling towards her sister. However Ms. Song stomps on Clarice's back with her talons gripping her flesh through her jacket. She groans in agony as she feels the talons sinking in her skin. Then Ms. Song grabs Clarice wrists from the back, then whispers Clarice onto her ears with a spine chilling tone
"When I'm done with the both of you, I'm going to rape everyone in this institution, and burn it down to the ground…"
Ms. Song began pulling Clarice's arms, with a firm grip- one can see her skin stretching, tearing beyond its length- the sound of joints and flesh squelching under the stress, all along Clarice starts screaming in agony"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH"
The entire crowd behind them all stood helplessly and watched. Then finally
SNAP
The arms finally detached from her shoulders.
Yet her anguish is still heard, echoing throughout the entire campus.
Then finally it stops.
Ms. Song, huffing with heavy breaths, stares down at the body she dismembered, panting, shuddering, as a puddle of black viscous pus forms underneath them.
Her eyes droop, as her mouth forms a frown. Quietly she states
"Why did it come to this? You and I were supposed to be my successor, my apprentice, my- child… but why?"
A single tear runs down her cheek
"Oh God… Why?"
Then everyone stood frozen in silence, staring at the entire scene in complete horror.
…
…
…
But she was truly the only outlier
Because suddenly-
Claire, hopped onto Ms. Songs back, locking her arm onto Ms. Songs neck
"What are you doing?!" Shouted Ms. Song
As Claire continued to choke, she starts pulling the tiny wings from Ms. Song's head.
"Ack! Cease this now!!!"
Then the other
"Stop that!!" Then Ms. Song began flying in the air, while Claire was still mounted on her neck.
In the sky Ms. Song was flying frantically, she was going to no discernible direction but trying to buck Claire off of the choke. Claire started to pull out the knife, slicing Ms. Song's 1st wing of four.
Then another, her flying became more sporadic
Then another, she started to fly lower
Then another, she started to fall
CRASH!
Both of them roll onto the sunlight, where Claire plucks the last wing as they land without using any tools, just with her bare strength.
"NOW REECE!"
From above the sky, Clarice prepares a double knee slam onto Ms. Song, while Claire moves out of the way, it finally landed
CRACKKKKK!!!
Clarice's double knee obliterates every bone on Ms. Song's back.
While that's happening, both of them were beginning to literally boil under the sunlight.
Claire shouts "Lock all of her limbs NOW!"
As she does, Clarice notices that the wings are beginning to sprout back as nubs of flesh protrude out from her back. Clarice rolls themselves, to face the sunlight as she's sandwiched between Ms. Song on top and the grass underneath.
Despite having the skin of her arms barely healed- Clarice kept grunting as she struggles to maintain her grip, Ms. Song kept squirming, and despite her lankier stature she struggled to pry Clarice out of her back, she had no use but to resort to slicing her head with talons as the struggle went on. Despite Ms. Song being on top, Clarice was also boiling under the heat of the sun.
Seen in their faces their life slowly slips away the longer they stay in the sun. Claire was frozen, processing what she should do.
But as time went on they started to boil more aggressively, and their bodies began fizzling out.
Instinctually, Claire bolted to her sister's aid, pushing Ms. Song's shriveled body away, quickly pulling Clarice's half-burnt body to nearby shade. She screamed.
"Somebody help! Please! Help me pull her to shade"
For a brief moment, the students looked at each other, then a faculty member ran through the crowd to help pull Clarice by the shoulder.
Then a student came to help.
Then a nun
Then a priest.
As they begin to heave her in with ease. They finally reached shade to protect her from sunlight. Claire drops onto the ground huffing her chest, panting, sweating, as all of her clothes are stained with dirt, pus, and blood.
Despite that she quickly crawls towards Clarice, then she cradles her half shriveled body, then one of the students murmurs.
"She's not dying is she?"
With tears welling up her eyes, she snaps her eyes to the student.
"No! She can't die, not now! Not like this"
Then a familiar face walks through the crowd.
With dark brown skin, hair styled with two braids he said calmly while showing his fangs
"She needs blood" said Nicodemus
Claire darts her eyes towards him, then back to Clarice.
Gently she cups her sister's head up, then lays it on her shoulders. She can feel her sister move, but obviously struggling. Then she felt it- Clarice's fangs sinking onto her neck. As she feels the prick, tears begin running down her face, as she cups her sister's head tighter. She turns her hands, gazing upon it, her body begins to deflate.
Her breaths started to circulate slower.
As she can now barely keep her eyes open.
Alas.
The twins finally drop on the floor, with Clarice's bite releasing from Claire's neck.
All that Claire sees right now is her losing her vision
Slowly
Fade to black.
But she can still hear everyone around her.
After what felt like forever
The room was dead quiet, the only thing that was filling the room was Claire's soft snores. The entire room was wrapped in hard velvety pinewood, sun beams cast through the windows as specs of dust became visible as it was flying through it.
Claire was sleeping soundly, her whole body- except for her head; is wrapped in a linen blanket. Strangely there isn't a single patch, nor a wrap of bandage over her skin. Matter of fact it looked clean, like nothing happened to her.
Suddenly her eyebrows pressed against each other, gritting her teeth as she moaned as she bent her back up- finally, she opened her eyes, blinking as her vision slowly cleared.
She was in their dorm.
Lightly huffing her chest, she looks at her surroundings. Looking to her left was a letter over a nightstand.
Pushing herself up, with a strained groan, she bit her lip. Gently grabbing the letter, she tears it open to read it.
She started with a relaxed face, but suddenly her brows began to shade her eyes, then it contorted to a slant while she grits her teeth.
Because the letter said:
*Fast forward into the student council's office*
The entire council was there including Clarice
"REECE, YOU'RE KICKING ME OUT?!" Claire shouted.
Clarice responded with her arms crossed "I have to Claire, it's for the better!"
"After what we went through?! BULLSHIT!!!" She throws the crumpled letter at Clarice's chest "You promised that we can go to Cydonia, where we can live for the better! For the rest of our lives!"
Clarice drops her arms, putting her foot down
"I didn't promise shit Claire! You merely gave the suggestion, and I never said anything!"
Claire flailed her hands as she shrugged "So what? You'd rather stay here and play princess?! Replacing what you hated the most by filling that role?!"
Clarice rebutted "At least I have a role to fill Claire! What do you even do in Cydonia huh? What do you really aim for us?
Yeah suuuure we can live there happily ever after, and then what? Watch you get fat, turn into a vegetable, and then die? While I live as a rotting corpse who reeks of pus? No!
You may not care about your dream, but I care about mine!"
Claire shook her head "What are you even trying to achieve in your dream? You're just becoming the SAME demon that YOU tried so hard to kill! You're just becoming HER!"
Clarice tilts her head in response, she shakes her head "You're just jealous because I ACTUALLY have a dream, while you don't!
You always keep saying, oooooh just go with the flow! When in reality you're just a BUM! A runty, stupid, little bum! And you're not even a real Phoenix, you have no fire in you, because I have no sister!"
SMACK!
Claire recoiled, her lips quivered while tears began to well up her eyes
Clarice held her cheek, as she realized Claire slapped her. She grits her teeth as tears flow down her face like a river.
Then Clarice said quietly as her tears well up as well
"I want you out before sundown"
Claire left, stomping her way out.
「END OF TRUE PHOENIX ARC」