A First Verse, to seek and eliminate the impurity of man.

A Second Verse, to defend the faith against those who would harm it.

A Third Verse, to see the path of havoc coming and avoid it.

A Fourth Verse, to elevate oneself over the petty and the base.

A Fifth Verse, to sanctify those who have been made to suffer.

A Sixth Verse, to witness the metamorphosis within the souls of men.

A Seventh Verse, to spread the tenets of the faith across untold distances.

An Eighth Verse, to bind evil down to this world.

A Ninth Verse, to bestow one's teachings upon one's fellows.

And a Tenth Verse, to…

The Ten Verses of the Superb Methodology, Classical Superbian Text

There were two levels to the bridge that Giovanni Sigma Testament and Dragan Hadrien found themselves on. The one above, where they were standing, and the other one, just below it. Both levels were lined with consoles, now manned only by the dead.

Many of those consoles had been ravaged by Dragan's initial barrage, reduced to little more than warped metal and sparking light, but those directly behind Giovanni had survived. Giovanni doubted Dragan would unleash such a massive attack again: if he wanted to prevent the FTL sequence, he'd need an interface to do it from.

Outside the great window, the black of space. Full dark, no stars. From this position, not even the other two great ships of the Final Church were visible.

Giovanni made note of it all. One way or another, this was the room he would die in. If nothing else, he would do it the courtesy of noticing it.

Shall we end this, then?

Giovanni went to say that, to bring some dignity to this sad encounter -- but before he could, Hadrien vanished, recording himself into electric blue Aether. Steeling himself, Giovanni kept track of the moving Aethercloud with his eyes, the First Verse creating six spears floating over each of his shoulders.

He'd skewer Hadrien the moment he appeared. The Cogitant clearly wasn't playing any games, and neither would he. Whatever trick Hadrien intended on using, Giovanni would overcome it with sheer force.

That was his first mistake: he'd expected a trick.

The Aethercloud rushed towards Giovanni in a straight line, Hadrien rematerializing at the last possible moment. His angry blue eyes looked into Giovanni's shocked red ones. The last thing he'd expected was a frontal assault -- especially after last time.

At this close range, firing the spears off like bullets would be ineffective. Giovanni whipped his hands out and seized two of the spears out of the air, swinging them at Hadrien's torso. They weren't slashing weapons by any means, but even used as clubs they would be able to do serious damage.

If they managed to hit him, that was.

Hadrien vanished into Aether again right before the spears hit him, the blue blur moving above Giovanni before materializing once more. Grim purpose in his eyes, Hadrien fell down towards Giovanni from the ceiling.

"Gemini Shotgun!" he cried, Aether flaring around him.

Another ranged attack, clumsily set up and easy to deal with. Giovanni held a hand up to meet the assault.

"Second Verse!" he replied.

The red shield appeared around Giovanni, dispelling his spears in the process -- but the expected bullets never came. Instead, Hadrien simply continued to fall towards the shield… pulling his fist back for a punch. Alarm spiked through Giovanni's brain.

It had been a bluff!

Just because Hadrien called out the ability's name didn't mean he was actually using it. All he'd really done was put on a show by flaring his Aether. Even so, though, what did he hope to accomplish? Whether he struck the shield with a projectile or struck it with his fist, the result would be the same. No matter how much Hadrien's resolve had been hardened, he wouldn't be able to --

Smash.

Hadrien's fist broke right through the barrier -- and struck Giovanni in the face.

Pinpoint Aether usage.

Dragan had only seen it actually used once -- when he'd confronted Helga back on Yoslof -- but the principle of the technique was fairly easy to understand. Ordinarily, he'd infuse his entire body with Aether, applying a consistent level of power to every part.

Now, though, he was focusing all of the Aether he had at his disposal into the tip of his knuckles -- and in his current state of mind, he had a lot of Aether. It was a risky maneuver -- if he was hit by an attack while doing this it would be an instant defeat -- but once he'd tricked Giovanni into blocking, he'd had nothing to fear.

His fist broke through the barrier like it was glass -- and when it finally hit Giovanni's jaw, it felt much the same.

Giovanni went flying back across the room, flipping in the air. However, a red chain quickly erupted from his back and latched onto the window, stopping his flight and pulling him onto the glass surface instead. He landed feet-first, nearly vertical on it, wiping the blood from his mouth.

Dragan caught his breath, keeping careful watch over his adversary. He didn't know how many more times he could get away with it, but he could break through that crystal shield. Now, Giovanni would have to keep moving or use that Auto-Dodge ability to reliably avoid his attacks.

Plus, that wasn't the only trick he had up his sleeve.

"Approaching you now would be foolish," Giovanni called out, still trying to turn this into a conversation. "I'd be best to switch to a wholly ranged --"

"Gemini Shotgun."

This time it wasn't a bluff. A barrage of debris burst out of Dragan's Aether and zoomed towards Giovanni…

Second Verse.

So long as he knew for sure that the attack would be a ranged one, Giovanni could use his crystal shield without fear. Even if Hadrien used this attack as a smokescreen to get closer, Giovanni would be able to see him coming and act accordingly.

But Dragan Hadrien did not move.

Giovanni's eyes widened.

…no, not towards Giovanni.

Dragan sent his projectiles flying towards the window. He'd applied the principles of pinpoint Aether to them, abandoning defense entirely to enhance the power of his shots -- and now, as they struck the glass, that investment paid off.

The window shattered, and air began to flood out of the room, black space doing its best to claim them.

Giovanni's shield shattered from the sudden shift in pressure -- but before he could fly out into the dark, he used another of his chains to attach himself to the far wall. His limbs dangled behind him as the chain rattled, pulled to breaking point by the air pressure and the loose metal that smashed against it on the way out. Dragan just recorded himself into Gemini World, choosing to sit out the maelstrom entirely.

Eight seconds…

Giovanni's eyes were squeezed shut, his mouth forced open by the force pulling at his body.

Nine seconds…

One by one, broken consoles and dead bodies flew out into the darkness, becoming little more than tiny floating dots.

Ten seconds…

And finally, a metal shutter screeched down, slamming shut over the broken window and restoring order. Giovanni collapsed to his knees, the chain turning slack in the moment before it dissipated. He went to take a deep breath --

-- only to abandon it as Dragan appeared before him, fist pulled back for another punch.

At this close range, his shield was a non-starter -- and Hadrien would just smash through it anyway. However, if Giovanni received a punch to the face with the full unbroken strength of that pinpoint Aether, the damage would be devastating.

But Hadrien could only damage that which he could touch.

Third Verse.

His Auto-Dodge activated, reflexively twisting his body at an impossible angle to avoid the blow. His bones softened and stretched to accommodate the unnatural pose, his head twisting nearly one-hundred and eighty degrees. Rather than strike him in the face, Hadrien's arm just brushed harmlessly against the side of his neck.

Giovanni smirked.

First Verse! He materialized another spear in his hand and lunged at Hadrien, ready to run him through before he could vanish again…

…only to notice that the Cogitant, too, was grinning. Cold weight settled in Giovanni's stomach. He didn't know how, but he knew by instinct alone that he'd somehow been outdone.

Hadrien opened his mouth -- and at the same time, as quick as he could, so did Giovanni.

"Tenth Ver --"

"Gemini Shotgun!"

There was a blast of blue, and a flare of pain.

When Dragan used a Gemini Shotgun, he was able to make the projectile appear in a fairly small area around him -- the furthest away he could materialize it at the moment was over one of his shoulders.

That was its first flaw.

The second flaw was the flashiness of its materialization -- the bolt of blue that accompanied it gave enemies a crucial second to realize it was coming and react. In battle -- and especially against Giovanni Sigma Testament -- that instant could mean the difference between a killshot and a dodge.

So, for this battle, Dragan had decided to think outside the box -- or inside it, depending on your position.

Surely Giovanni could only Auto-Dodge an attack that, on some level, he could see coming. A point-blank shot without a second's warning would hit him just as much as it would hit anyone, then.

Dragan had turned Gemini Shotgun's first flaw -- the materialization distance -- into a strength. Rather than fire from further away, he'd fired from closer.

From within his own body.

Dragan's arm exploded with a burst of red, the chunk of debris firing out of his elbow and instantly striking Giovanni in the neck. Their blood mingled in the air as the Apexbishop's throat was sliced open by the attack, his life flowing freely from the wound. The red spear slipped from his grasp, but Dragan took no chances.

Gemini World.

Dragan vanished, hovering over Giovanni as he collapsed to the floor, clutching his bleeding throat.

He watched as Giovanni writhed.

He watched as Giovanni gasped.

He watched as Giovanni stopped moving.

Even long after Giovanni had stopped moving, Dragan continued to watch. There was no telling if the Apexbishop was faking. It was only when he'd confirmed that the man hadn't been breathing for at least five minutes that Dragan rematerialized.

His foot clicked down on the floor as he landed, and he immediately turned towards the ravaged consoles. Before anything else, he had to stop the FTL jump from progressing any further. He had no time for other concerns.

His fingers hovered over the holographic keyboard, trying to work out how to accomplish the task --

"First Verse."

The breath -- and the blood -- was forced out of Dragan's lungs, splattering onto the monitor before him. Slowly, he looked down.

A red spear of crystal had impaled him center-on, sticking out from his torso, his flesh dripping from its jagged surface. Wicked red Aether coursed across it. There was no way. Seriously? This was bullshit.

"Tenth Verse," Giovanni said calmly from behind him, his footsteps coming closer. "So long as I use it beforehand, it repairs my flesh from a fatal injury and resurrects me. Of course, it can't do anything about aging… but murder is no issue." There was a trace of bitterness to his tone.

A heavy hand landed on Dragan's shoulder, and he found himself being thrown back to the floor. The impact forced the spear further into his body, and a scream of pain erupted from his mouth.

Giovanni wiped the lingering blood from his throat, sneering down at Dragan.

"That's the music I wanted to hear," he said. "Now… shall we end all of this?”

?”