Kazuya got no time to rest.

Almost as soon as he'd defeated Elizabeth one of the other girls in Pandora Mode had jumped down. The armor had included a black visor that covered the entire face. He didn't know if this was Annette or Satellizer.

"I'm sorry that I'm in a rush darling, but I have less than three minutes. I promise to make it up to you later." As she spoke she spun a large scythe around.

The voice was a bit tinny and with a faint echo, but he was able to recognize it.

"I understand Annette-sempai." He stuck his arm out. "Freezing."

Having seen him use his Freezing before Annette expected a repeat. Instead he pushed it out only twenty yards. It was not even enough to reach to where she had landed.

Despite her reputation Annette was not stupid and not totally reckless. Even with the clock ticking she took just a moment to look things over.

"Oh is this all I get? You pushed it out a lot further for Rana. Do I not rate your best effort?" She asked with her voice echoing from inside her armor.

"I only did that because I was hoping I might catch the rest of you." Kazuya said.

That was true, but it was not the whole truth.

Annette saw a few specks of dirt just hanging in the air a couple inches from the ground. So the intensity of his Freezing looked to be the same, just with a much smaller area of effect. "You're sweating Kazuya. Are you feeling a little bit tired?"

He gave her a wide smile and hoped it was convincing. "I feel just fine Annette sempai."

That was not entirely true either.

Kazuya's ability to draw volt energy was incredible. If it hadn't been it would have been impossible for him to use the sort of Freezing he did. He did have limits though, limits he had been warned not to try and go past.

Of all the things he could do with volt energy; Freezing, creating a barrier, or creating strikes, Freezing far and away took the most out of him. He realized now that it had been a mistake to use his Freezing at full strength when dealing with Rana. That, plus all the energy he'd had to expend against Elizabeth had left him feeling weary. He wasn't about to fall over and he could still fight, but it would be a good idea to end this as quick as he could.

"Let's get together and play poker some time Kazuya." Annette said. He was a sweet boy but he was no damn good at lying.

Inside her face plate was a digital timer. Annette saw it count down to 2:30. Using Pandora Mode was a double edged sword. It gave you a way to negate a NOVA's Freezing effect without a Limiter, gave you a power boost, and added protection. The drawback was that it forced you to bet everything on one roll of the dice. Once Pandora Mode was activated it stayed active for exactly three minutes. You didn't have the option of shutting it off or extending it. Once the time limit was up the armor disintegrated and you were unable to use volt energy.

Your body was exhausted to the point of not even being able to run away. Using Pandora Mode was always viewed as a last resort. It always implied a fight to the finish since you couldn't escape afterwards. You had three minutes to win or die.

"All right, I won't keep you waiting anymore." Annette ran forward and into the area of Freezing effect.

XXX

In her time at West Genetics Annette had gone on several field exercises and dozens of single and group spars. On some of those occasions she'd used Pandora Mode in a Limiter's field of Freezing to simulate going up against a NOVA. Pandora Mode allowed you to negate the effect and move, but there was still resistance. With a regular Limiter it was like walking into a strong head wind. As soon as Annette crossed the edge of it she grunted in surprise. The resistance was much stronger than she'd expected. It was like she was going through hip deep water. She could still move, but it took a concentrated effort.

There is no way I can use accel, never mind double or triple accel. Annette thought. It's hard enough just to move naturally. Accel was the ability to use volt energy to move at inhuman speeds. With that she was sure she could have ended things quickly. Without it…

"I guess I'll just do this the hard way then!" She ran at him with her scythe in both hands. With time a factor and the inability to use accel she had no real option but to be direct and quick.

Kazuya slapped his hands together. "Four strikes." With Annette running right at him he had no time. All four flew straight at her.

They hot her in the middle of her chest and exploded one after another in rapid succession.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Had she only had her uniform for protection those blasts would have left her a bloody mess on the ground and possibly even killed her.

In Pandora Mode she didn't feel them.

She ran straight through the smoke of the explosions and at Kazuya. His eyes widened as too late he realized he's underestimated her. He leapt back as she reached him and swung her scythe.

Kazuya was not fast enough.

XXX

Up on the roof top Satellizer saw the tip of Annette's scythe cut through Kazuya's combat uniform like it was paper. She saw his blood spray out.

She had seen and inflicted far worse without a care or regret.

Seeing Kazuya hurt she closed her eyes and felt sick.

XXX

As he was leaping back her weapon cut him. The tip sliced in just below his left shoulder and cut across the top of his chest. It was not a deep wound but it hurt, and it was a little shocking to see so much of his blood squirting out.

For one second, Kazuya was filled with panic. The pain and the sight of his blood scared him and the instinct was to cry out wildly and give into sudden mindless terror.

The second passed though and he found that despite his fear and pain he could still think and act rationally. He suddenly understood what sensei had been talking about.

Annette brought her scythe back around to the ready position and rushed back in.

The rusted out truck Kazuya had been standing by had both of its doors fallen off. Tucking his knees into his chest he fell backwards into the passenger side and rolled over and through the cab coming out the driver side.

Annette stabbed down through the truck's roof and her blade cut clean though it and into the moldy and rotted passenger seat, just barely missing Kazuya as he tumbled though. Her scythe caught onto the truck's frame and was momentarily wedged in place. Annette pulled desperately to get it free.

As soon as Kazuya spilled out of the truck he slapped his hands together. "One strike, max spread!"

A crackling sphere of bluish and silver energy the size of a basketball appeared. Gritting his teeth and covering up his face and neck he fired it at Annette who was ten feet away.

BOOM!

The explosion blew up the rusted truck and left a smoking crater where it had been.

The force of the blast sent shrapnel flying in all directions and blew Kazuya back into a brick wall. Kazuya's uniform was made from volt texture just like the Pandoras' were and gave him the same protection Kevlar armor would. Even so, his hands, arms, and legs were riddled with small cuts. There was a sharp pain on his left side that hurt more when he breathed deep. The cuts all felt as if they were burning and the wound across his chest was the worst.

Kazuya got slowly back to his feet.

The smoke from the blast was just hanging there like a curtain due to his Freezing effect. He assumed Annette was lying somewhere on the other side. He hoped she was okay. From what he knew about Pandora Mode he didn't believe even one of his maximum attacks would hurt her seriously.

I wish I could use barrier when I'm using Freezing, Kazuya thought. Unfortunately that was more than he could manage, he could only use one or the other at a time.

He was taking a moment to gather himself. Despite the wounds he could still stand and move. He was breathing heavily. Much more than using his volt weapons keeping the Freezing active without a break was beginning to strain him. He was wondering just what sort of weapon Satellizer might have and if he would be able to deal with her.

That was when he heard a hollow laughter coming from the other side of the smoke.

"Heh, heh, heh you really don't give up easily do you Kazuya?"

Kazuya gave no answer before he saw Annette leap through the hanging smoke. The center of her armor was blackened and melted. Her visor had cracked and a sliver had broken off. He could see half of her face. She had a demented smile and he thought he saw madness in her one eye.

"Don't underestimate me!" She screamed as she brought her scythe down.

Kazuya dodged as best he could but the blade caught his right thigh and cut deep. Kazuya cried out in fresh pain and stumbled back.

Swinging the redded blade back again she cut open his chest again below the original wound. Even more blood was running down his shredded uniform.

"Just go down Kazuya and it'll be over!"

"No!" He shouted defiantly. With an effort he reformed the volt texture and his uniform was whole again. That did nothing to help his wounds though. "I won't give up!" He slapped his hands together. "One strike, max spread!"

The volt weapon materialized right in between them.

Annette froze, she was right on top of him, she couldn't believe he would do it. He would take almost as much of the blast as she would.

Just before it touched her the Freezing effect vanished.

"Barrier," Kazuya said. A five foot wide disc of volt energy appeared between him and Annette.

"Son of a…"

BOOM!

XXX

When the smoke cleared Annette was lying twenty feet away amid pieces of concrete and rubble. Her armor had disintegrated and she was unconscious, but otherwise uninjured.

Kazuya was barely standing with his hands on his knees and his body shaking from exhaustion. Dark red patches were starting to appear on his uniform. The barrier was still active.

With Kazuya's Freezing no longer active Stella used accel and appeared behind him while he was trying to recover.

She delivered one clean punch to the back of his head and turned him off like a light. His barrier blinked out and he wordlessly fell over.

Satellizer caught him before he could hit the ground. "It's all right Kazuya," she whispered to him. "You did great."

As a helicopter approached a siren wailed marking the end of the exercise.

XXX

Omake

As they fought Annette brought her scythe down and chopped off Kazuya's right arm.

"Hah!" Annette cried. "Victory is mine!"

Kazuya looked at his bloody stump and the now severed arm lying at his feet. "It's just a flesh wound."