"I take it you weren't the one who killed me?" As she asked the question, Nino's smile began to fade. "Or were you that unsatisfied after doing it, so much so that you wished you could do it again?"
The ferocity of her attacks increased dramatically and so did her spear and accuracy. She began bringing out more spears, blocking Atropos' attempts at creating new disks, taking away her strongest ability.
"What about Clotho?" She went on. "Did you kill her as well?"
One spear grazed the elder sister's left leg, and another one cut her right flank. With her focus being on her Limited Rift she didn't have the mental power to strengthen her Force Field, but she knew she couldn't go like that for long.
Another BANG! announced the fourth shockwave and the sisters teleported at the same time. Atropos tried to put some distance between them, but she found a spear thrust at her face the moment she appeared.
"Let me guess, we refused to bow down to Zeus and because of that we had to go?"
Nino swung her Yari down after it got parried. Atropos held her sword up to block, but the blow was much lighter than anticipated. Nino let go of the Yari and grabbed a Nameless spear, channeling her Force field into it. Knowing she couldn't dodge it, Atropos attempted to teleport, but the scenery around her didn't change. It was then that she noticed the pinkish barrier surrounding them.
An anti-teleportation barrier. She never noticed when it was placed around them. Time slowed down as the spearhead drew close to her skin. In a desperate attempt, Atropos abandoned creating the white disks and switched all her focus to her Force Field.
Met with the same amount of Force, Nino's enhanced spear bounced back, sparks exploding from the point of collision. Atropos didn't go unscathed though. The blow sent her body flying back, and even if she avoided getting wounded, her internal organs were rattled in the process.
"Was being loyal to that arrogant egomaniac more important than us?" Grabbing her Yari once again, Nino lowered her posture, standing on the floor of the anti-teleportation barrier she had created. "I thought the three of us were on the same page. I thought we were supposed to stay together, we were supposed to stand up for each other. But you-"
"Oh shut up."
Finally, Atropos said something in response. Her words were like a bucket of cold water spilled on the Japanese doll's head, causing her to freeze in her place. The tone was calm and uncaring, carrying no emotions and completely detached. She gazed at her elder sister, and the eyes that met her betrayed no emotion.
"You keep blabbering and blabbering and for what?" As she spoke, Atropos lowered her Force Field and began working on creating more white disks. "You picked the wrong side and died because of that. What else is there to explain? Or what? Do you still hold a grudge because I refused to die with you?"
Once she had ten disks in her arsenal, she split each one into four triangular parts then used them to break the anti-teleportation barrier. Keeping a few around her, she sent the rest to surround one of the nearby Titans..
"You had your Needle so you should've known, right?" Without looking back, Atropos activated her World Cleaver, creating a maze of crisscrossed blue walls that divided the upper half of the giant into several parts, each one different from the rest. "You had no future other than the one where you serve Zeus. I know because I peeked at it myself."
"Wha-"
"Oh c'mon! Did you really think you could stop me from using your little invention? Don't be ridiculous." She closed her eyes and sighed. "Did you forget that I was the one who discovered the Tapestry in the first place? You created your Needle based on my research. Getting past your failsafe was an easy task."
In order to prevent anyone from using the Needle to see her Path, Lachesis had added a safety mechanism to it. Without her Force Field signature it should've been impossible to see her on the Tapestry of Fate, but apparently Atropos had taken the liberty to overwrite the mechanism, giving herself access as well.
"I always hated how you mess with my things without asking." Nino said, forcing herself to smile.
"Look who's talking."
Without a warning, Atropos vanished. Nino spun her spear and blocked the incoming slash without looking behind her. The blades clashed and sparks flew. The scissors slid down the shaft and headed for the Japanese doll's face forcing her to bend back to evade. She launched three spears at her elder sister at the same time. Atropos teleported away, but her next attack didn't follow. She once again encased herself in a box made out of her ability. It was then that Nino remembered that the next shockwave was coming.
"You had no future. Even so you chose to oppose that man."
It was a close call but Nino managed to avoid being crushed by the absolute destructive force of the mountainous giant's wails. She expected an attack to meet her the moment she reached the spot she teleported into, but there was nothing. Atropos had used to chance to fly to the next giant and activated her World Cleaver. Once the giant was split into a pile of rocks, the Runes over its head disappeared and the black orb in its chest disappeared.
The Primordial no longer had any limbs that could reach for the Aether orb. With each passing second, the effect of the second phase got stronger causing the absorption to accelerate. Nino was aware that this would happen. It's one of the reasons the Primordial would eventually resort to using black holes in order to free itself, even at the risk of sustaining more damage.
The attack would be so devastating that it would take most of the Olympians and Nephilim with it. The reason Nino had bothered to tell Atropos about the New Titans.' ability was so she would use her own to stop it.
"Say, I've been thinking for a while now…" Atropos spoke from afar, still going after the Titans.. "Why are you asking me all these questions?"
Nino remained silent, unconsciously fastening the grip on her spear. Atropos appeared in front of her the next moment and she held it to block her crimson sword.
"You saw everything, didn't you?" She said. "With your Needle you should've been able to look for a Path where I gave you all the answers, right?"
Nino's expression darkened and she couldn't help clicking her tongue. She created two new spears and then launched them simultaneously, one from each side. Atropos smiled and teleported away, and because their weapons were connected she took Nino with her. They went all the way to the opposite side of the battlefield, appearing right above one of the Titans.. Atropos surrounded it with her white disks, immediately activating her ability and shattering it.
"Well, knowing that you could do that, I probably never told you even if you won at the end."
Another detonation announced the coming of the sixth shockwave. Just before it was launched, Nino separated herself from Atropos and was about to teleport away only to stop at the last moment. She was trapped inside a large blue box along with her elder sister.
"Still, I find it funny that you still can't remember." Closing the distance between them, Atropos slashed up with her sword. "Even if you can't remember, all you had to do was to check your past and you would've learned everything."
The Needle allowed Nino to gaze at the Tapestry of Fate. That included the Threads intertwined with hers and the Paths leading to the future, but it also allowed her to see the Path she has already traversed.
While she can't see the possible Paths created by a Divergence once she passes it, she's still able to see the Path she has traversed, meaning she can see all the events she has lived through giving her some sort of permanent recording of her whole life.
There is one problem though.
"Lachesis is dead." Said Nino. "We might be the same person, but we are different as well. Her Thread has reached its end, and mine has only started a few years ago."
As soon as the battle at the airport concluded, Nino used her Needle in the hopes of seeing the past she could remember. Unfortunately, her earliest memory was awakening in what she guessed was Asgard where she had undergone the cruel training to become a Valkyrie.
"I see." Atropos nodded, having understood the circumstances. "So death really is the end."
With the shockwave having already passed them, the isolating walls disappeared and the battle resumed. The sisters sped through the sky, their crimson weapons clashing repeatedly. With Nino no longer bothering to destroy the white disks Atropos took the chance to destroy more Titans.
"So? Aren't you going to answer my question?"
With only three giants remaining Atropos went back to using her Limited Rift as a shield. She blocked Nino's Nameless spears as she focused her swings on her younger sister. "Was there really no Path where I told you the truth?"
Nino remained silent, blocking each slash as she backed away. Though their ferocity and speed made it seem otherwise, she could tell that her elder sister was holding back trying not to land a direct hit with her Scissors. A single slash from the crimson blade would be enough to kill anyone. Nino wanted to believe that her sister was reluctant to see her die once again, but she knew that couldn't be the case, her guess being that she was keeping her alive just so she could learn a few things.
"I didn't look." Nino said after a while. "I wanted to hear it from you. I wanted to hear it myself."
For a moment, Atropos looked utterly baffled. She then burst out laughing, leaving herself completely open.
"You… you're actually risking it all just for that?" She said. "You understand that if I refuse to tell you now, you will never know what happened, right."
"I'm fine with that." Nino replied. "I'm already over my death."
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