In its purest form, the human heart longs to be whole.
When Laurie Brown, who had lost track of all the achievements in her life and had no idea what she should do to make herself satisfied had been approached by the Phoenix with an offer to do something so extraordinarily dangerous as become a Hellfire, sure, she let her mind run its course, trying to come with all the reasons why she shouldn't join, but her heart had already told her the answer she wanted to give.
Similarly, when Sneha Stone, who had no idea how to find out anything about the death of her fellow pupil and her teachers, whose search had led her to a partnership with Vermilion, one that was not helping much with her investigation either, had been given the offer to find out about them by working with Ethan Kales, sure, she let her mind run its course as well, trying to come up with all the reason why she shouldn't team-up with a man whose way of contacting people was blackmail, but her heart too had already told her the answer she wanted to give.
And, in those moments, both the women did, in the end, choose the answers that their hearts told them to choose, ignoring their intelligence.
And, because of those decisions back then, the two had now ended up in a battle against each other.
One of them comes from a rich family with a history as old as the aristocratic times of Great Britain and the other is the sole survivor of a well-respected Aural school. Under normal circumstances, these two would have no reason to meet each other, much less fight each other.
Yet, they are here - fighting each other, and it's because of them listening to their hearts and not their minds.
And, maybe, at some level, they realized this. And so, in this battle too, they let their minds run their course, coming up with strategies to defeat each other, but, at the end of the day, they chose to do what their hearts told them to.
Laurie's heart told her to not get humiliated, not listen to whatever her opponent says, and attack without healing to hold onto her pride.
This led to her standing herself up with pure Psychic Energy and then charging right at her opponent.
Sneha's heart told her to not attack her while she is so weak but also to not take her attacks either.
This led to her constantly defending against Laurie's strikes.
And this continued for a fair amount of time.
However, as all things do, this had to come to an end. After all, how long could the two keep it up despite knowing the futility of it?
And so, they stopped and got away from each other.
One's mind told her to heal and the other's told her to attack while the opponent's vulnerable but neither listened.
Instead, Laurie Brown convulses Psychic Energy inside her, a move that caused her pain because of her wounds coming into direct contact with rapidly moving energy. But, even so, she doesn't stop doing so. And, when she is ready, she makes herself invisible.
Sneha Stone, on the other hand, first waits for her opponent to become invisible, and then after her opponent disappears from her sight, tries to read Aura to find her and dodge her attacks.
But, this time, the Aural was too slow.
By the time Sneha realized where the attack was coming from, she had no way left to dodge the strike to her backbone.
Her bones audibly crack and her legs lose their strength for a moment as a very crucial part of her body is hit with such force.
But, it isn't all.
Having gotten the chance to attack more, there was no reason for the Psychic to stop just there.
So, she continues.
Laurie Brown continued with her strikes on her opponent's backbone, constantly breaking them without even giving her opponent the chance to scream in pain.
However, all of a sudden, her attacks stop. It's not that she stops, but her attacks do.
Even Laurie herself does not know why her hands suddenly stopped being able to connect to her opponent's body, why her hands suddenly started feeling so drained of energy.
She doesn't even realize why all of that is happening - not until she sees her feet and realizes that she isn't standing exactly where she had stood before.
She has been thrown back by a powerful back kick to the stomach and after her back does, her head ends up directly hitting the trunk.
She wonders if she is already too hurt to realize things like this in time and even feel the pain in time, can she really continue on like this? Or, should she give in and heal?
But, unfortunately, she didn't get the time to answer that question of hers.
In front of her, the Aural who has kept standing straight only by binding her shattered bones together through Aural Energy raised her arm like a butcher's knife and both her glare and her arm faced just the Hellfire.
The Hellfire realizes what is going to happen.
If her head is already so hurt that she can't process things in time and can't even immediately detect it when she is hit on it, then she must already be vulnerable enough to die from a really powerful hit to the head, especially a hit that, by nature, can split open her skull.
For the Aural, attacking this Hellfire was outside of her code until now. After all, they were on very unequal footing.
But, with her backbone broken like it is, that is no longer the case.
They may still not be complete equals but they are no longer so far apart that it is unfair to attack.
And so, knowing all of that, and knowing the futility of everything that has happened in this fight as well as everything that is happening now, the Aural brings her hand down, and the Hellfire did her best to defend.
Gallons of Aural Energy clashed with gallons of Psychic Energy and both pushed each other back.
The Aural almost loses her balance as she is pushed back and the Hellfire feels a sharp pain in her head as the same happens to her.
Sneha: "..."
The Hellfire tries to stand up but can't as the Aural, once again, raises her arm in the same manner, but this time, she no longer holds anything back.
And this time, the Hellfire doesn't hold anything back either.
And so, they clash again.
And once again, they cancel each other out.
The Aural falls and the Hellfire feels an even sharper pain in her head.
Laurie: "..."
But, it is still not over.
They have used all their spare energy but the result has not been decided. So, it is still not over.
Sneha: "... Tsk!"
Laurie: "... Hah! Hah!"
So, for one final time, the Aural stands herself up and takes the same stance. The Hellfire prepares herself with the same defensive stance as well.
Sneha: "E … enough of this!"
And, for one last time, using all their stored energy, the energy they had been using to keep themselves alive with so many bones and organs of their body destroyed, they clash once again.
And this time, whether it is the difference in their stored energy, their concentration in using it, their ability to think clearer, or just pure luck, but the Aural cracks the skull of her opponent open, and then falls down to the ground in pain as the blood of her opponent spurts forth rapidly, bathing her in a dark and deep scarlet.
*******************************
A punch from the right that is easily dodged ends up being just a follow-up for a kick from the left and that, when barely dodged, makes dodging the ankle kick from the right near impossible. However, doing the near-impossible somehow only leaves him wide-open for any attacks from both sides.
And, this time, he is unable to dodge or defend at all.
Dyne: "AAAGGH!!!"
A pained cry comes out of him, and he himself is surprised by it as he is thrown on the ground by a punch to the gut in the very similar fashion of what he had done before.
Unlike before though, he gets no chance to get away and catch his breath as the anomaly of a supernatural keeps pummeling his face on the ground, all so that the Hellfire has enough time to charge up for a massive attack, which, when he is finally ready, the other supernatural gets out of his way and leaves Dyne vulnerable to it all.
With not enough time to even react, much less dodge, he ends up taking three miniature suns to his body, which burn his body like he is in the pits of hell.
And while this might be enough of a revenge for making a mockery out of his miniature sun earlier, the attack by the Hellfire and his ally is still not over. As proof of that, the ground beneath his back cracks.
It takes him a second to turn and see Abgere looking at him with a condescending glare to finally realize that this happened because of his own earlier attacks weakening the ground and Abgere noticing that without letting him know.
In that second though, the Hellfire puts his hands to the ground and uses Geokinesis with as much power as he can to use this crack and form spikes out of the rocks that penetrate his back like a medieval age treasure trap.
Dyne: "S-SSHHHIIITT!!! GAH!"
It works too.
Dyne is helpless as his massless body is penetrated by the spikes, causing them to strike directly into his core.
And as he struggles to do anything because of the searing pain, Abgere uses all of his power to push him down on those spikes, causing his suffering to worsen.
All around the three, the many Spectres are constantly tempted to help their leader. But, the order that their leader gave them holds too much power for them to disobey it. So, all they can do is stand and watch Dyne get tortured.
If they were humans, they might have been capable of disobeying the orders anyway and help but, for these artificial beings made completely out of the same energy that was used to programme the many principles in their mind, it would be literally detrimental to their health to try and go against their orders.
So,
Dyne: "G-gh … good job!"
Their leader, for their ability to control themselves and not interfere in the battle, compliments them.
And, with just that, every single person who could hear him becomes silent, completely silent, so that one man can speak his mind.
Dyne: "As for you two,"
With his voice quite coarse and pained,
Dyne: "you both did a good job too."
He says so casually as tightens his fists.
Both Gabriel and Abgere jump away from him, probably as a natural reaction to someone who absolutely destroyed them before. Unfortunately for them, this wasn't a smart decision.
If Dyne could still talk, that meant that their attack wasn't as successful as it needed to be. So, they needed to continue attacking. Jumping away and giving their opponent more room to recover was a foolish move.
And now, it is time to pay the price for that foolishness.
Dyne: "Death Minute!"
Dyne yells as he gets back on his feet with his clothes still covered with holes.
As a response to what he yells, a mass of energy forms over his head in a systematic manner to form a clock with only the second hand.
Abgere: "What the hell is that!?"
Abgere can sense dread emanating from the clock but he doesn't exactly know why. Gabriel, on the other hand, has a vague idea.
Gabriel: "He said 'Death Minute', didn't he?"
He looks in pure terror as he questions that.
Dyne: "Allow me to explain."
Saying so, Dyne casually walks towards them with light steps as the holes in his suit somehow heal.
Dyne: "When I was created, I was created with the purpose of leading the Spectres. I was born that way."
Unlike in every other army where one has to work their way up, gaining skills and experience along the way, he was created as the strongest, most skilled and best Spectre of all time. That, obviously, meant that he needed to be given a lot of power.
Dyne: "But apparently, creating someone that powerful was too big of a task. They couldn't handle it the same way they handled every other Spectre."
And so,
Dyne: "They had to condition a special 'feature' in me. They sealed a lot of power inside me, far away from my grasp. This way, my power was significantly reduced and I could function as a Spectre. However, if this power could never be accessed by me, then it serves no purpose, correct?"
Hence,
Gabriel: "Death Minute."
Dyne nods.
Dyne: "A way for me to access the full extent of my power for just one minute. The catch - is that if I don't win the battle within this minute, I am programmed to die."
Abgere and Gabriel are left at a loss for what to say. And seeing that, Dyne looks back on the clock hanging in the air that counts down to the end of the minute.
Somewhere along the line, probably around the time that the holes on his body and suit started to heal, Death Minute had already been activated. Hence, the countdown began. And, because of the time he spent explaining Death Minute to them,
Dyne: "It seems not much time is left until my death. So, let's begin, shall we?"
He has merely 20 seconds left to win the battle.
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