A Promised Rest [Alastair, Lukas]

Seeing Lukas deploy his Blut, Alastair admitted that it once more required escalation and relinquished in his attempt to wrestle the man down. He had failed in many ways, perhaps just as much as he had failed himself, but it would be a step too far for Alastair to relent now. The build-up of Hollow energy was a lesser concern, the sudden dispersal of ginto tubes equally unimportant, as he focused upon that problematic spirit weapon that his opponent had. Hiding it inside the body was irksome, and made it harder to do so, but he would have to meet him blow for blow.

Reishi gathered in his free hand as he summoned Falke again, the spirit weapon this time taking the form of a reinforced gauntlet, as he twisted in the air to do his best to evade the sudden burst of energy that exploded from Lukas' spell. It was hardly a perfect evasion, the explosion still enveloping his flank and scorching his uniform to a blackened crisp, but such wounds meant nothing to the Grandmaster. That charred flesh began to sizzle and return to normalcy just as soon as the injury was inflicted upon him, skin knitting itself together akin to the regeneration of a Hollow. He did not scream nor falter, his expression stoic as that arm reeled back and then came crashing down like a heavy chop. Beating the man once more into the cage itself and then soaring after him to keep up the attack.

Another series of blows would follow, each punch enough to rock the insides of the ball within which they were trapped, as his Vollstandig gave him all the speed he needed to stay on top of Lukas and deny the man another chance to escape. It was typical of his dogged style of combat, intent to wear down any opponent whilst keeping himself intact, and every strike was also growing stronger than the last. He was releasing his restraints systematically.

THE CITY OF LIGHTS
Seared flesh on his back, rolling against the scar of his arm, but it was pain. Pain and burns. Again and again, that was his life. Again and again he'd fought. Again and again he'd been burned. Again and again, he'd been maimed. Again and again, he'd stood back up. Again and again and again and again -

Lukas had enough. Blows from the Grandmaster wailed against his frame, blood pooling at the corners of his mouth. More racking pain, flickering edges of consciousness, and so his blut roared. Veins of red spread from his arm, his body bulging with the last embers of his reiryoku. Reishi alight with anger, with pride, and within that cage the air could not be felt beneath the man's intent to kill. Ahnengeist flowed within, and his own blows came to Alastair, slugging back with the shreds left inside. Lukas' mind was blank, a flood of instinct, and a memories' echo.

The story from a mother who never had a chance.

A stardrop, shining bright. Like a tear in the night sky, weeping from a god that never was. Burning, writhing, fighting in its desire. But just as the god that bore it, immaterial, impossible. The fleeting speck of light amongst so many more longer lasting. Their place held aloft in the sky, glimmering amongst innumerate neighbors. For those that came before, and those that would come after; the stardrop just a memory. Flickering, fighting against the sun to shine ever brighter. Ideals branded with the name Light, hiding from the shadows they cast. In those shadows smothered, lost -

The pair had continued to brawl for what felt like hours, though it was only a scant few minutes. Every blow striking with intent and being returned in kind, a clash of wills as much as bodies, but Alastair had that distinct advantage. For every blow that Lukas struck, by the time he found an opening to strike again the damage done had been mitigated by the Grandmaster's Vollstandig. Yet even as he wore the man down, Alastair found only more will to fight buried beneath. So they remained locked in this dance, two burning stars painted in orange scattered against a canvas of swirling destructive blackness.

Then, just as suddenly as the battle had erupted, it reached its conclusion. Whatever strands of energy that were holding Lukas' body together snapped in one final brilliant flash as Alastair's fist fell for the last time. That final burst was enough to shatter the globe within which they had been trapped, though perhaps it was Ulquiorra who sensed that one life signature had faded and released their hold upon it, and so for a fleeting instant they were both floating in the open sky still illuminated by the aftermath of their cataclysmic collision. Then, as the body began to fall, Alastair swooped down to catch it. The pair slowly descended to the street below, the Grandmaster's wings eventually fading into dust as that halo atop his head also scattered.

He had not wished to see the man dead, for none were deserving of such finality when the hope for redemption always remained for even the blackest of souls, but he could not rest knowing that such a danger roamed free. That Lukas had possessed such resolve to die for his freedom was not something Alastair deemed satisfactory, but it brought this blood-soaked night to an end nonetheless.

The Vandenreich would be instructed to remain on high alert for the rest of the night, lest further trouble arise, but come the next dawn the lockdown was lifted and an uneasy sense of normalcy ushered in. Most might only have seen the distant fireworks or felt the ripples of a distant clash, but there would be no further signs of the brutal clash beyond the scars in the sky that would fade with the passing of time.