Gee somersaulted backward, landing on one foot.

Before he even stood fully, he burst forward again, this time with more strength.

His greatsword held overhead.

Billie moved first.

She swung her katana in an upward slash.

A massive pillar of flames shot out in its path, cutting through the earth as it lunged at Gee.

Gee stepped to the side casually.

A sound came from beneath him.

Before he could register it, flames shot out from beneath him, piercing through his body from below.

Miller watched as his body reformed in the place he had avoided Billie’s attack.

Without thinking, he continued his advancement.

"He doesn’t seem that tough, overpower him from a distance," Miller suddenly said to Billie.

Although he was not sure of the reason Gee suddenly became easier to kill than before, he knew he had to capitalise on it.

She nodded, returning her katana and daggers to her AI space.

The air beside her grew hotter, the heat spiralling out of normalcy.

Three massive balls of condensed flames roared to life.

The darkness of the night was devoured by their brilliance, which illuminated everything around them.

With a thought, she hurled them at Gee.

Miller was not to be outdone.

His sword streaked through the air, delivering slash after slash.

Each slash released an arc of pure flames that ignited the air.

"Troublesome," Gee said, swinging his greatsword in a wide horizontal arc.

Like butter, the sword cleaved through the fireballs.

As the arcs of flame neared, his body flickered, becoming transparent as aether covered him.

The arcs passed through, slicing through the earth behind him.

They exploded, forming a deep trench.

Billie moved quickly, flames condensing into a ring of fire around her.

She pointed a finger at his skull.

Boom.

A bullet of flame burst from it, piercing through the flame rings toward Gee’s head.

Gee moved his blade to meet it mid air.

Instead of slicing through it, he caught it with the flat of his blade.

Like a baseball bat, his sword swung back, redirecting the bullet back at Billie.

Her eyes widened as a barrier of flames enveloped her.

Miller was already above Gee.

His sword streaked downward in an arc of flames.

The blade cut through his body without resistance, cauterising the split parts before they could fully fall apart.

Miller ducked almost immediately, swinging backward at the newly formed Gee.

The sword cleaved through his legs cleanly.

He withdrew, then thrust forward, the sword piercing through its head.

A pop echoed through the night as the head exploded into a mess of blood and brain matter.

A sound tore from above, cutting downward toward Miller.

Billie was already there, dagger coated in flames as she pierced through his flesh.

But the aim of her attack was evident. She never aimed to kill him.

"Mark," she said as the blade pierced.

Suddenly, Gee’s body felt heavier, much heavier than normal.

"My aether," those were his thoughts as he plummeted downward.

Miller looked at Billie, shaking his head at her action.

"If you had a skill like this, why hadn’t you used it earlier?" He asked, sidestepping to avoid Gee’s downward slash aimed at his shoulder.

He also knew Billie had more than one skill, thanks to her bestowing her original skill on herself countless times.

"I was not sure if he was using aether before. I only noticed it now," Billie said in her defense, ducking beneath a horizontal cleave from Gee.

"Just be quick, the skill wears off after 30 seconds," Billie warned in a whisper.

But Gee heard it perfectly.

He switched tactics instantly.

He jumped backward, creating space.

He looked at them, then ran far back, putting as much distance between himself and the pair as he could.

Miller frowned.

Then he smiled at Gee’s futile resistance.

"Is he trying to outrun us?"

Billie was more serious though. Her body was flooded with aether as she tore forward.

Ten seconds had passed.

They gave chase, but Gee was fast even without aether.

His legs carried him further, until he jumped over a fence.

Billie and Miller had to slow down as they entered the residential area.

Fifteen seconds had passed.

You go left and I go right.

If we don’t find him in the next 10 seconds, we can only hope we don’t kill these people later.

Billie nodded instantly, feeling the tension as she jumped over the left fence with feline grace.

She moved on pure physical prowess, refraining from aether to avoid injuring the civilians around her.

Miller also moved.

He searched the backyard of the house, then the garden, then the leisure area.

All of it was empty.

"Here," he heard Billie’s voice cut through the silence.

Without hesitation, Miller ran toward her position.

Only to be met by shock.

There was Gee, standing at one side with calm.

There was Billie, standing a short distance away from him.

But what shocked him was the new presence, a civilian, old and frail, held tightly in Gee’s grasp with his greatsword hanging over their neck.

"I only need to survive for the next 5 seconds, then it is over," Gee said with a crazed smile.

"Who knew that you had such a stupid skill? I would not have toyed around with you."

As he said this, his smile began to widen until it turned into full blown laughter.

"Hey, on the count of three, you attack," Miller said.

Although he would not like to kill a civilian, there was no choice.

Gee’s skill was just too dangerous to risk letting him activate it again.

As Miller thought of this, he could not help but wonder just what skill Gee was using.

"1," Miller whispered, his voice barely above a breath.

"2," he followed.

Billie got ready.

Her palm tightened around her dagger’s hilt.

Swoosh.

Several sounds tore from the sky, streaking downward in a burst of speed faster than sight could follow.

The only thing Miller and Billie were able to catch were the blue trails that followed behind them.

The lights pierced through all of Gee’s body, killing him before he could react.

Instinctively, they turned their heads to the sky.

There they saw the figure who had attacked, flying above with a cold, condescending gaze directed at Gee’s corpse