FLASHBACK — 6 YEARS AGO
The mansion where Alyra lived with her daughters was lit only by the bluish glow of an old TV. Lucy, twelve years old, sitting cross-legged on the rug, stared at the screen with wide eyes.
The movie showed a cornered hero, still grinning as he fired his last bullet in slow motion.
"Game over, punk," the character said before blowing the villain through a window.
Lucy's chest swelled with excitement. She leaned forward.
"Holy crap… that is SO cool…" she whispered, as if she'd just learned a secret of the universe.
Nyra, the same age, sat on the couch with her arms crossed and a book open on her lap. She rolled her eyes.
"Lucy… you know nobody talks like that in real life, right?"
"I'm gonna talk like that!" Lucy declared proudly, pointing at herself.
"I'll use catchphrases every time I win a fight. Like this, Game over… baby!"
She struck a dramatic pose, imagining some nonexistent wind sweeping her hair back.
Nyra raised a brow.
"You are ridiculous."
Lucy grinned even wider.
"Thank you."
Nyra tried not to laugh, but the corner of her mouth almost betrayed her usual cold façade.
Later that night, the two walked through the forest behind their house. The full moon barely pierced through the canopy.
Their ritual was familiar: they hunted because Alyra couldn't, or wouldn't, allow herself to drink blood. Not even animal blood. Her refusal was fierce. Her hunger, silent.
"There." Nyra whispered, pointing at a thin deer near the stream.
Lucy took a deep breath.
"Alright. I will get this one. Alone. Today I'm gonna impress Mom."
She crouched through the bushes, feet sinking into damp soil, and… tripped on a root.
The noise echoed.
The deer snapped its head up, startled.
Lucy lunged, trying to grab it before it bolted, but it dashed away. She face-planted in the dirt.
Nyra pressed a hand to her forehead, sighing deeply.
"You're a disaster."
She sprinted after the deer, silent, precise, calculated. In seconds, she returned carrying the unconscious animal in her arms.
Lucy stood up, shaking leaves out of her hair.
"I almost had it!"
"You weren't even close," Nyra corrected, though a tiny smile slipped through.
Lucy took two confident steps forward, fixed her hair, planted her hands on her hips and declared:
"Game over, baby!"
Nyra froze for half a second.
Looked at her sister.
Then at the deer.
Then back at Lucy.
"No. No, Lucy. That was terrible."
"Are you kidding? That's gonna be my signature line. Write it down!"
Nyra turned her face away to hide the laugh she was fighting.
Inside, she thought it was cool.
Outside, she kept her cold older-sister act.
A few days later, they were training in the open field behind the house. The sky was gray. The wind sliced at their skin. The ground was worn from hundreds of sparring sessions.
A tall silhouette watched the girls from afar, Ulisses. Imposing. Silent.
A shadow of authority and pride.
Lucy charged first, fast but reckless. Nyra dodged, spun, and swept her legs out cleanly.
Lucy hit the ground with a loud oof.
Nyra crossed her arms, tilted her head, and said:
"Game over… baby."
Lucy's eyes went wide.
"HEY! You stole my line!"
"Of course," Nyra said, extending a hand to help her sister up.
"I just made it better."
Lucy, both annoyed and secretly proud, took her hand.
They stood up together… then immediately squared off again, ready for another round.
And Ulisses, from a distance, where neither of them could see, smiled.
PRESENT
The ethereal plane was in ruins. The blue sky of Ulysses's world now distorted between red and gray, as if space itself were dying. Rocks floated, the air vibrated, and at the center of the chaos, Cletus, his form monstrous and increasingly unstable, roared in rage.
Lucy and Nyra stood side by side, both covered in wounds, breathing hard, but their eyes blazed with fury and determination. The metallic clang of swords echoed with every move.
Lucy spun Tory's spear, dashing toward the monster while Nyra advanced from the opposite flank, her katana drawn.
Cletus whirled, striking with his tail. Lucy slid across the ground, severing the tendril with precision, and Nyra used the momentum to leap and plunge her blade into his shoulder.
"You don't understand the power you're wielding!" Cletus screamed, his voice a mix of pain and desperation.
Lucy retorted with sarcasm, dodging a colossal blow:
"I understand enough to know you're losing control of it!"
She then rammed the spear into the monster's chest and, with a powerful twist, tried to run him through — but Cletus's body expanded, demonic energy repelling the blow.
The impact was so violent the spear shaft cracked, and a loud snap echoed.
Lucy stared at the weapon in surprise.
"Shit, Tory's gonna kill me for this..." she muttered, just before the spear shattered completely in her hands.
Cletus seized the opening, landing a punch that launched her backward, smashing her through a floating rock. Nyra rushed him, leaping in a spiral and slashing diagonally across the creature's arm. The blow flashed blue, leaving a trail of energy that detonated an instant later.
Lucy, bloodied, returned to the fray. The two sisters shared a quick glance — a silent look of mutual understanding.
With a joint cry, they both pierced Cletus's chest with their swords, running him through from opposite sides. The creature roared, its internal energy exploding, burning his body from the inside out.
Cletus fell to his knees, the ground trembling. Blue and red lights danced around him, mixing with the black blood that spilled.
Lucy heaved a breath.
"He's still not going down..."
Nyra glanced at her and then, without a word, they swapped weapons. Lucy now wielded Kaburami, and Nyra held Dracallion.
The swords reacted instantly — the runes pulsed, acknowledging the switch. Lucy spun Kaburami, an azure aura flaring around her.
Nyra raised Dracallion, the metal glowing red.
They advanced again. The combat became a mortalballet.
Lucy slashed upward, Kaburami's curved strikes leaving trails of cold wind. Nyra attacked with brute force, each blow from Dracallion exploding like fire. Together, the sisters unleashed dozens of consecutive cuts, tearing Cletus's body apart.
The monster roared, each blow disfiguring him further.
His flesh bubbled. Bones erupted and fused into distorted shapes. The energy of Ulysses was devouring its own vessel.
"No... it can't be..." he roared in agony.
The sisters swapped blades again, each reclaiming her original. Lucy spun Dracallion, Nyra steadied Kaburami.
Lucy then drew her pistols — the same ones she'd used in a hundred battles. She fired a sequence at the monster's chest, but Cletus reacted, a tentacle lashing out and striking her hands, knocking one of the guns loose.
The pistol spun through the air. Nyra, with flawless reflexes, leaped and snatched it from the air, landing in a crouch. She cocked the weapon with a cold expression.
"Use the opening, Lucy," she said, aiming at the center of Cletus's body. "Let's end this."
Lucy nodded, moving to her side. The two stood shoulder to shoulder, hair whipping in the wind, bodies covered in blood and dust, but resolute.
Nyra glanced sideways and murmured,
"I'll try it your way, this time."
Lucy flashed a grin.
"You remember what we used to say?"
Cletus, desperate, writhing on the ground, stretched out his deformed hands.
"No... don't do this!"
The two sisters moved close, pistols raised, standing shoulder to shoulder.
Their eyes glowed — red and blue, in perfect harmony.
And together, they said:
"Game over, baby!"
The pistols fired.
Lucy's shot was blood red, Nyra's was moonlight blue. The bullets crossed in mid-air, spinning around each other before they struck Cletus in the forehead.
The impact was devastating. An explosion of energy split the plane in two. Cletus screamed, his voice lost in distorted echoes. The demonic aura disintegrated, his body dissolving into ash.
Before he vanished, he murmured:
"I... have the true power of Ulysses...!"
Nyra, emotionless, spun the pistol before handing it back to Lucy.
"Not much class in your dying words," she said coldly.
Cletus gave the sisters one last look and disintegrated into dust.
At the center of the plane, the sword of Ulysses fell, along with the two pendants, and a black hole opened beneath them, sucking everything in.
Lucy and Nyra looked at each other and, without hesitation, ran toward the abyss.
As they fell, blue and red energy enveloped them.
Lucy reached out and grasped her pendant — its crimson glow reigniting. Nyra did the same, seizing hers, which gleamed blue.
The two sisters disappeared into the void, as the entire plane began to collapse behind them.