Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay. Here's chapter 26, and the end of 'volume 2'. Enjoy!
What It Takes
Chapter 26: Fallen Warriors
Branches whipped past them as Sylvia and Re chased after Cole. They thought they had lost him until they broke into a small clearing. The siblings stood at the edge of the clearing and saw Cole standing across from them, smiling as he looked over his two opponents.
"Well, well, well," he spoke in a calm controlled voice, "It's about time you two showed up."
Re drew his scimitars as Sylvia unsheathed her falchion, firmly standing their ground.
Cole just grinned wider at this, "It doesn't have to be like this," he reasoned, "all I want is an equal world for us all to live in, is that so wrong?"
"No," replied Re firmly, "it's not wrong. What's wrong is the way you'd go about it. Destroying everything just because it's not how you like it? The world is not yours to manipulate like clay, it's a place where everyone lives, where everyone can be happy."
Re then pointed his scimitar at Cole, "And I won't let you ruin the world with your idea of equality."
Cole frowned at this and turned to Sylvia, "And you Syliva? Do you see me as just someone who is ruining the world?"
Sylvia switched her weapon to its bow form and knocked an arrow, "Are we gonna fight? Or should I just put this arrow through your head?"
Cole sighed, "So young and naïve. Fine. I guess I have to put you in your place."
He reached inside his coat and pulled out black brass knuckles. Placing them on his hands, he looked at the siblings again, "Last chance to join me," he stated plainly.
Sylvia fired. Cole disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving the arrow buried in the tree behind him. She switched back to sword form, but was immediately knocked to the ground by Cole's fist as he appeared behind her.
Re attacked, swinging his scimitars in wide arcs, trying to keep Cole out of range. But rather than dodging the attacks, Cole simply blocked it with his aura. Surprised by the action, Re also hit the ground as he was punched as well.
Sylvia got up, and fired another arrow from her bow. Cole kicked it out of the air, and switched his brass knuckles into pistol form, firing quickly at Sylvia. She opened one of the dust containers at her belt, and constructed a dust shield to block the incoming bullets. As Cole kept firing at Sylvia, Re was on his feet again and charged at Cole. Switching to shotgun form, he fired two shots at Cole. Hearing the gunshots too late, Cole was hit by the blasts and knocked back into a tree. Sylvia put down the dust shield and fired an arrow filled with red dust at Cole. The arrow exploded and the trees around it caught fire as it hit its target. Re smiled at Sylvia, but she knew that this battle was far from over. As she predicted, Cole emerged from the blast, unscathed from both attacks.
He smiled his evil smile, "You might as well give up now," he said in a half-laughing voice, "especially if that's all you've got."
Nuri's tattoos glowed again as he shot more fireballs at Namra. She barely avoided them, igniting the trees behind her. Her clothes were slightly smoldered by the passing fire as Nuri charged at her again. Namra threw her blades at Nuri, one from each side, as he came closer. Nuri dodged the first blade, but caught the second one and yanked it. Namra lost her balance and fell over. Nuri then grabbed her and threw her behind him. Namra hit the ground hard, tasting blood and dirt in her mouth. Nuri shot more fireballs at her. Quickly, Namra got up while spinning her chained weapons like a cyclone, blocking the fire before it reached her.
Seeing his attack fail, Nuri unleashed two streams of flames from his hands at Namra. Unable to get out of the way in time, she blocked the fire with her aura. She struggled against it, feeling its heat consume her aura as she tried to outlast the flames. But Nuri was unrelenting in his attack and eventually overwhelmed Namra, sending her into a tree behind her. Nuri started to move, when suddenly one of Namra's swords appeared from the smoke. He grabbed the sword out of the air and saw Namra standing in front of the tree attempting to pull him to the ground. Exhausted from the fight, her effort was fruitless as Nuri stood firm in his position. He cackled loudly.
"Look at yourself," he commented, a smirk on his face, "One last ditch effort and you can't even manage to pull me down. You really are pathetic."
He grabbed the chain around his right arm, heated the metal and snapped it in half, separating the sword from the chain. Nuri threw the weapon away as he approached Namra.
He threw two more fireballs at her. The impact caused her to fall to the ground, as the flames engulfed the last of her aura. Her clothes smoldered and steamed from the attack as Nuri continued to approach her. He launched another stream of fire at her. With no aura left, Namra felt each lick of flame, like she was being whipped with fire. The heat nearly made her pass out, as she screamed in her mind for the pain to end. The flames dissipated as Namra's clothes smoked and her skin crackled as if it was cooked. Burn marks were left on every inch of her skin as Namra lay there huddled at Nuri's feet. He looked down at her feeble form, stone faced and unfeeling.
"You will get no mercy," he said and kicked her in the stomach as hard as he could.
She cried out in agony.
"You deserve no mercy," and he kicked her again.
"You deserve to suffer!" he shouted and kicked her a third time.
The blows continued until Namra could barely even breathe.
Please, Namra pleaded with herself, make it stop.
Eventually the blows did stop, and Namra lay in the fetal position shuddering, the taste of blood in her mouth. Nuri stood over her and ignited another ball of fire in his hand.
"And now it's time to end this," he concluded.
Nuri turned in time to see a fist slam straight into his face. The blow sent Nuri tumbling to the side and into one of the trees at the edge of the small clearing. He stood up slowly and saw a boy with blue hair, gauntlets and a leather jacket standing next to Namra, facing him.
"Wai…" Namra muttered feebly.
"How dare you attack Namra," Wai spat, his face contorted with rage.
Nuri smirked slightly at his new opponent as Wai clenched his fists.
"How dare you hurt her!"
His aura flared and became red.
"Nobody," Wai started, his voice trembling with anger, "hurts my friends!"
He lunged at Nuri with unbridled fury. Nuri quickly dodged, causing Wai's fist to collide with one of the burnt trees, breaking it in half. Wai turned quickly and lunged again, this time his fist collided with Nuri's stomach, causing Nuri to hunch forward as Wai kneed him straight in the face. Hurled backward, Nuri landed back on his feet somehow, wiping the blood from his nose, anger filling his features.
"You'll pay for that."
His tattoos glowed again as he engulfed the area in front of him in fire. Wai moved unhindered through the flames until he reached Nuri. Stunned by his sudden approach, Nuri did nothing as Wai grabbed him and threw him into the inferno he had just created. Nuri stood and laughed.
He then raised his hands and pointed them at Wai, causing the flames to rush towards him. Wai was knocked off his feet from the attack and lay sprawled on the ground for a few seconds before he stood again and hurled himself at Nuri. Wai released the blades in his gauntlet and slashed furiously at Nuri. Barely able to keep up, Nuri was hit several times by the blade, depleting his already exhausted aura reserves. Suddenly, Nuri felt the blade slice into his skin. He clutched his bare stomach and felt the blood trickling from the cut Wai had just left. Nuri looked up just in time to dodge what would have been a fatal blow. Instead, Wai sliced upward, slashing across Nuri's face. He howled in pain as he fell to the ground, clutching his face. When he finally removed his hands, there was a gash across his face, running from one corner of his face to the other. His hands were now stained red from both wounds. He looked up and saw Wai raised one of his blades, ready to finish Nuri off.
"Wai…"
Wai stopped. He turned and saw Namra a few feet from him. His eyes continued to blaze red as he stared her. Namra was crawling towards him, still hunched in pain.
"Don't…" she whimpered, "It's not you…"
But Wai was beyond reasoning. He raised his bladed gauntlet again, ready to pierce through Nuri. Suddenly there was a hand on Wai's arm.
Wai turned his red eyes to Namra again, who had barely found the strength to stand.
"Please…"
Wai retracted his blades and grabbed Namra by the throat and pinned her to a tree with his hand. Namra tried to speak, but her words were lost as her friend continued to strangle her. She struggled against him as Wai's hand continued to press against her throat. She reached out and touched his cheek.
"Pl-Please…"
Wai's eyes snapped back to blue. He looked at the sight and quickly released his grip. Namra fell limply to the ground.
"Namra…" Wai managed to say, "I'm so sorry…"
Namra didn't respond, as she lay motionless on the ground.
"Fool!"
Wai turned and saw Nuri standing up.
"Now I shall-"
A textbook flew from out of nowhere and knocked Nuri out cold before he could finish his sentence.
Professor Caerul ran down and picked up his book before turning to Wai. He then looked down and saw Namra unconscious on the ground. Quickly he moved over to her, checking her vitals. He then turned to Wai.
"She's alive," Professor declared, his gaze unreadable.
"Professor…" Wai uttered, "I-"
"No time for that. Where are Sylvia and Re?"
"I-I don't know…" Wai answered, shakily, "Probably further in the woods."
"Stay here with her," Caerul commanded, "I'll go find them. Enero should be here soon, he's just wrapping up in the dust works."
And with that he ran off into the woods.
Re and Sylvia readied their stances as Cole ran at both of them. Cole vanished once again, but this time Sylvia was ready and blocked the incoming blow with her sword once Cole reappeared. The rain of blows from Cole had Sylvia on the ropes almost immediately, causing her to back up as she parried and blocked all of Cole's attacks. Knowing she couldn't last much longer, Re charged in and blocked one of the attacks. Quickly, the two students turned the battle around, causing Cole to start defending instead of attacking. They traded blow after blow, neither side ever giving an inch. Cole was able to defend every attack that Sylvia and Re threw at him. Using his aura and his weapons to their full potential, he knew that eventually one of them would tire just enough to give him an opening. And sure enough, that opportunity presented itself as Re let his guard down for a fraction of a second. Cole parried Sylvia's attack by swinging his arm, throwing her off balance. Cole then punched Re in the gut, causing him to keel over. He then focused his aura into his other fist as Re tried to stand up. When he finally stood, he was greeted by Cole's fist in his face. The blow sent him flying into a tree, cracking it and causing it to fall over. Re lay there motionless, underneath the tree.
"NO!"
The cry came from Sylvia, as she renewed her efforts against Cole. She attacked ferociously, letting her anger fuel every single attack from her blade. Cole blocked each blow, but was clearly taken aback by her new found assault. As Cole lost his balance, Sylvia gained the upper hand and slashed at his chest. His aura was still intact, meaning the blow didn't do too much, but it still knocked him to the ground. Sylvia drew more dust from her belt, used them as a chain to grab Cole from the ground, and threw him in the opposite direction. While he was on the ground, Sylvia switched to her bow, knocked a blue arrow in it and fired. The arrow hit the ground and encased Cole in ice. Sylvia then called upon her semblance, and combined every type of dust she had in order to craft a single, silver arrow. She knocked the arrow and fired it at Cole. The arrow exploded where Cole was standing, engulfing him in a brilliant white light. Sylvia shielded herself from the light, feeling the energy from the explosion reverberate throughout her entire being
Finally, the smoke cleared and all that was left was a small crater where Cole had once been. Sylvia sighed in relief as she sheathed her weapon. The battle had taken a lot out of her and she looked at her scroll. Her aura levels were in the yellow, as Sylvia expected. Coming down from the adrenaline rush, she remembered that Re was still trapped under the tree and started to run over to it.
As she ran though, she felt a presence near her. She turned around and was slammed in the face with a fist. She was sent reeling into a tree, feeling the impact way more than she had expected. She slowly stood up, scraped and bruised from the impact of both the fist and the tree. Looking into the clearing with blurred vision, she saw the outline of a man dressed in black, laughing. Her heart sank as her vision cleared and she saw Cole standing there, his clothes dirtied and slightly tattered.
"I must say that was a pretty good move," he chuckled.
Sylvia drew her weapon, readying her tired body for round two. Cole pointed one of his pistols at Sylvia and fired three shots. She successfully blocked the first two shots, but the third hit her square in the chest, causing her to fall back a bit into the woods. Regaining her balance, she started running amongst the trees, trying to get a good position on Cole. However, his constant firing kept her moving until she finally leapt out of the trees and fired an arrow at him. Cole once again smacked it out of the air; however this gave Sylvia the opportunity to get in close. Switching her weapon back to her falchion, she began an assault of slices and stabs, keeping Cole on the defensive. She knew she would not be able to keep this up for long; she just needed some time to think of a new strategy. Her mind whirred, trying to find something, anything she could do to take him down.
She was snapped out of her thoughts as Cole found an opening in her defense. He walloped her right in the chest with his brass knuckles, sending her spinning into the ground. Sylvia got up quickly as Cole opened fire with his pistols. Sylvia put up a quick shield with the dust at her belt, keeping the bullets at bay.
My aura's almost depleted, she thought, I gotta finish this quick.
She pushed the shield forward, trying to hit Cole with it. He dodged it with ease, but the cease fire gave Sylvia time to form six daggers from the dust at her belt and launch them at Cole. The daggers met their target, and caused him to stumble as each one exploded on impact. Taking this opportunity, Sylvia charged in with her falchion, ready to finish this fight. But the daggers didn't do as much as she had wanted, and Cole was ready to counter. He sidestepped her and delivered a round house kick to her exposed side. She hit the ground hard and her weapon fell at her side. She let out a solitary cough, marking the ground with a single splotch of blood. She lay there, completely exhausted.
"Come on," Cole goaded with a grin, "don't tell me you're done."
Sylvia struggled to get up; she felt a pain in her side indicating a cracked rib at least. She picked up her weapon and used it as a means of support, digging it into the ground. Her legs shook as she tried to stand, the effort alone making her almost black out. Tears were starting to form in her eyes, and her ponytail had come undone, leaving her with long, untamed silver hair cascading down her back. As she stood, she glared at Cole, trying to get her vision to focus on her target.
Cole threw his head back and laughed. It was a cruel, evil laugh that seemed to ring out from every corner of the woods.
He looked back at Sylvia, "You know," he stated still chuckling, "you remind me of your mother. She gave me quite a fight too."
He stopped chuckling and gave her a cold smile, "That is, until I killed her."
Sylvia felt a fire breathe new life into her. Something in her mind snapped and she saw red. Suddenly she didn't care for her safety, she just wanted to kill Cole, make him feel every pain that she felt.
With a scream of anger, she charged at Cole, weapon ready to slice into him with as much force as she could muster.
Expecting this, Cole side stepped her with little to no effort and grabbed her arm. He twisted it, causing Sylvia to cry out in pain and drop her sword. He put his right hand at the base of her shoulder while extending her arm behind her back. With a sharp pull, a loud cracking sound was heard and Sylvia screamed as white hot pain flew through her. Cole dropped her to the ground, where Sylvia lay there, battered and broken.
"Did you think even for a second that you could win?" inquired Cole, "You and your brother combined couldn't kill me, so what made you think you could?"
Sylvia tried to stand again, but fell back to the ground, dirt smudging her already tattered clothes. She tried to look at Cole, but the intense pain in her arm was causing her vision to blur in front of her. Focusing, she could see the outline of Cole walking away. She tried to stand again, using her uninjured arm as support.
Cole, hearing the movement, turned around. He seemed surprised as Sylvia once again stood, her right arm raised her sword while her left arm hung limp at her side.
"You never give up do you?"
"No…," replied Sylvia through gritted teeth, "because… I know if I do… then you'll win."
She was struggling to get her words out, as she stood up as fully as she could, her weapon ready to fight.
"You talk about equality… and how you want a free world where everyone is treated the same... It's what most people want… But this isn't the way to go about it."
She stumbled a bit as she tried to walk toward Cole.
"If you use force… to make people do something they don't want to do… that's not change… that's oppression… People need to want to change in order for change to work; you can't just force people to-"
BANG!
The air left Sylvia's lungs as she felt the bullet bury into her stomach. Her sword fell to the ground. She hunched down, falling on her knees, clutching at her stomach. Red stained her white clothes as her blood flowed from the wound and onto her hand. Dread and fear filled her heart as she realized that she was going to die. She heard footsteps as Cole approached her. She looked up into his cold gray eyes. The look he wore was unreadable as he raised his pistol to her head.
"You know, your father told me not to harm you. He wanted me to leave you alone. I told him, however, that if you got in my way I would have no choice. He said he would warn you and convince you to stay out of my way."
He smirked at the girl at the end of his barrel, "I guess you should have listened to him, instead of brushing him aside. Say hi to your mum for me."
BANG!
Cole was slammed by a sudden force, sending him reeling towards the trees.
Sylvia looked up and saw Re standing there, his shotgun smoking from the blast he had just fired.
Quickly, he picked up Sylvia and brought her to the edge of the clearing. He sat her up against a tree and pulled up her shirt a bit to examine the wound. Re grabbed Sylvia's scarf and tied it around her stomach, covering the wound.
"Just sit tight and put pressure on the wound," Re whispered.
He then turned back towards their foe.
"You should really learn Cole," Re spoke, "it's rude to ignore one of your guests."
Cole stood up, slightly shaken but unscathed. He stared coldly at Re.
"Then allow me to provide some entertainment."
Cole raised his pistols and fired. Re used his swords to block each bullet that came at him. As he lowered his pistols, Cole vanished on the spot. Anticipating his next move, Re blocked the man's punch with the flat of one of his scimitars. Re kicked out at Cole as the latter jumped back, once again firing with his pistols. Re charged him, blocking bullets as he went. Cole vanished as Re slashed at the black smoke where Cole once was. He then emerged behind Re, using his aura to prepare his brass knuckles for one final blow. At the last second, Re raised one of his swords to block the blow. His blade shattered into pieces, and he was sent flying into the trunk of a tree. Cole switched to pistols and fired at Re.
Suddenly, Re got up and threw his other sword at Cole. The blade sliced into one of Cole's pistols, causing it to spark and malfunction. Distracted, Cole didn't see Re charging at him until they had collided. Using the surprise to his advantage, Re made a grab for Cole's working pistol. They grappled with the weapon for a bit, until finally it fell to the ground. Re quickly kicked it as hard as he could, preventing Cole from making a grab for it. Re the kicked Cole away, sending him off balance and tumbling to the ground. Re looked around for the pistol, but couldn't find it.
Must have kicked it further than I thought, Re supposed.
Getting up, Cole discarded his broken pistol, leaving them both weaponless.
Re readied a combat stance, "Huh, guess those boxing lessons with Wai won't go to waste."
Cole readied a similar stance as well, saying nothing in return.
The two circled each other, trying to find the best way to approach one another.
Cole then used his semblance to vanish in a cloud of smoke, appearing right in front of Re. He then delivered a roundhouse kick to Re's right side. Thankfully, Re's reaction time was quick enough and he blocked the blow with his forearm. He then swung a fist at Cole, hitting him straight in the chest. Staggering slightly, Cole backed up only to receive a fist to the face. Cole was knocked to the ground, but he got back up and into his stance. Pursuing his opponent, Re lunged at Cole and swung a right hook to Cole's body. Cole used his elbow to deflect the blow and then delivered a swift kick to Re's side. Re rolled to the right, avoiding the kick and getting behind Cole. Before Cole could react, Re delivered a right hook and then a left hook to Cole's lower back. Once again staggered, Cole turned to deliver a back kick to Re's chest. Seeing the leg incoming, Re swiftly back rolled away from the kick, causing it to miss entirely. Getting up from the roll, Re went back to his defensive stance, as did Cole.
"You've got good form," Cole commented, "but unfortunately good form won't be enough."
Re smirked, "I'm just getting warmed up."
Once again Cole disappeared in a cloud of smoke, appearing behind Re. A foot collided with Re's back, sending Re careening through the air. Before Re could recover, Cole appeared behind him again, delivering another kick, sending him back in the direction he came. This time Re recovered quickly but only to see Cole once again on top of him, ready to strike. With barely enough time, Re grabbed Cole's fist, stopping it in its tracks. Before Cole could react, Re's entire body began to glow with a bright light. Concentrating his aura into his left hand, Re opened his palm and pushed his arm forward. However, instead of hitting Cole with his palm, a ball of energy flew from his hand, hitting Cole square in the chest and sending him flying into the air, landing in a heap on the ground. Cole stood up, slightly battered by Re's last attack.
"So," he spoke in a deep voice, "that's your semblance."
Once again Re smirked, "Yup, which means I have a bit more range than you."
"Hmph," Cole grunted as he took his stance again.
Kind of wanted to keep it a secret for a bit longer, thought Re, but I had to get him away from me quickly. Now I just gotta gain the upper hand.
He glanced over at Sylvia. She was still keeping pressure on the wound, but her whole body trembled as she sat there.
I have to get her to safety.
Once again, Re began to glow brightly and he outstretched his arms as two blasts of energy were fired from his hands. Expecting this, Cole used his teleportation to dodge out of the way. The blasts collided with the trees behind him, a few of them falling over from the impact. Distracted by the explosion, Cole was suddenly defending against Re's barrage of fists. As he dodged and blocked each and every blow, Cole tried to find a hole in Re's defense. Finally seeing one, Cole swung his leg beneath Re, tripping him. Re fell to the ground and rolled out of the way as Cole tried to stomp on his chest. Standing up, Re was rushed by Cole. Now Re was on the defensive as he tried to block Cole's attacks. Unfortunately, he was unable to defend as effectively as Cole, and he started to take continuous blows from him. Realizing his defense was wavering, Re began to charge up his semblance again. Seeing him start to glow, Cole delivered a blow to Re's stomach and then picked him up, pivoted and threw Re behind him. Hitting the ground, Re began to tumble. Re continued to glow as he tumbled and he deftly threw a ball of energy at Cole as he rolled. Cole attempted to block the energy ball, but was instead hit directly, which almost made him lose his balance.
When Re finally stopped rolling, he glanced at his scroll. He saw that his aura level was very close to red. However, before he could react, he saw Cole disappear in another cloud of smoke. Seeing Cole appear right in front him, he jumped avoiding a roundhouse kick. Realizing that he had Cole where he wanted him, Re charged his semblance again, and fired a beam of energy with both of his hands, hitting Cole straight in the face. The force of the energy sent Re higher up in the air, where he soon began to fall back to the ground. Before he hit the ground, he fired another small beam of energy to slow his decent, allowing him to land gently.
Looking up, Re saw the dust clearing from his energy blast, but there was nothing there, not even a body. Looking closer, Re saw a thin wisp of black smoke. Realizing that Cole had used his semblance, Re turned and felt a piece of metal hit his face. He landed about twenty feet from where he was struck by Cole. Re stood up, a bruise starting to form on his right cheek, and stared at his opponent, his vision a bit blurry from the blow. Cole raised his fists and Re saw that he had retrieved his only remaining brass knuckle.
I better be careful about that, thought Re as he took his stance, swaying slightly, still dazed from the blow.
Cole quickly teleported to Re's location and slammed his brass knuckle straight into Re's face. His reaction time dulled, Re felt the entirety of the blow and was sent back to the center of the clearing. He stood up, staggering as he felt his body's exhaustion. Re tasted blood running down his face, revealing that he had run out of aura.
I must look like a mess, Re realized chuckling slightly to himself, well all I can do now is fight to my last breath.
Re once again took up a fighting stance, his red hoodie stained with dirt, jeans ripped and tattered, sneakers frayed. He stood for one last showdown against Cole. Seeing Re take a stance again in defiance, Cole could only laugh.
"Do you really think you can win against me?"
Re smirked despite everything, "We'll have to see, now won't we?"
Cole's face fell into a scowl and he fired his pistol straight at Re. Seeing Cole raise his gun, Re stepped to the side, somehow dodging the bullet. However, Cole used his semblance again and appeared behind Re, delivering a roundhouse kick to his side. Re was sent into a crumpled heap on the ground.
"Re!" Sylvia cried out hoarsely.
Cole turned in her direction, forgetting that she was still there, "Don't worry, you'll join him soon enough."
As he said that, Re stirred from the ground. Slowly, Re began to rise from the ground, a sharp pain in his side. His vision blurred again as he stared at Cole's image, ready to fight again.
But Cole had had enough, and fired his pistol, hitting Re straight through his knee. Crying out in pain, Re fell back to the ground, clutching his injured leg.
Sylvia tried to reach out to Re, but she recoiled as both the pain in her stomach and her arm flared up again. Tears continued to stream down her face as she watched Cole approach Re, pistol in his hand. Not only was she about to die herself, but she was also forced to watch her brother's death.
I…have to do…something.
Her mind whirring wildly, she looked around and saw her weapon a few feet away from her. Reaching for her quiver, Syliva found that she still had some arrows left. Slowly, she began to crawl to her weapon, pain erupting from her arm as she moved.
Cole had reached Re at this point. He glared up in defiance at Cole, determined to show no fear. Frustrated, Cole picked him up by the collar of his hoodie and lifted him up with his left hand.
"You're a stubborn boy," Cole spoke quietly, venom in each syllable, "you don't know when to die."
Cole then pointed his pistol at Re's face.
"I'll give you a hint," Cole continued in an icy voice, "you die now."
Suddenly an arrow collided into the pistol.
"What the-"
The arrow then released a jolt of electricity; causing Cole to cry out and drop the broken gun as well as Re, who fell to the ground on all fours.
Cole turned and saw Sylvia, sitting there with a bow in her left hand and her right hand raised near the string of the bow.
"You little-"
But Sylvia didn't hear what else he said as she made eye contact with Re. The look he gave her was a solemn one.
Sylvia realized too late what was about to happen as Re turned away from her. Before she could cry out, his body glowed intensely bright, brighter than it had ever glowed before. And with that, an immense amount of energy was unleashed from Re's entire body in a giant explosion. Cole cried out as Re's final attack hit him. Sylvia sat there in stunned silence as she watched Re sacrifice himself to finish off Cole. She wanted to call out for help, to go out there and help Re, to do anything, but her wounds were too great. And it was at that point that she blacked out.