Chapter: Twenty-Five

Written: July 2005

"Wonderful," Nova paused in her advance against the Raikken. "This just went from bad to worse."

Empyrean gave a snort, wielding her naginata and moving through as many of the demons as she could. Suddenly, the Senshi of Air tensed before letting out a yell as she was knocked off her feet. Her weapon went clattering to the ground, and then vanished…Empyrean didn't get back up.

The Sailor of Light looked to where hear teammate had fallen, prepared to cry out, only to wince in pain as something punched her hard in the gut. Her hold on concentration slipped and the tonfas vanished, before she was kicked hard in the ribs and knocked back several feet immediately collapsing to the ground.

"Watch it, it's Thanos," Glacia called out to her best friend, who gave a nod in understanding.

Aarde growled bringing up her sword to block the ice demon's strike, "Ya I figured it was him. So why can't we see him?"

By this point most of the other warriors had taken notice of what was happening to the Elemental Senshi, and while they would have liked to have been of some use they were rather pre-occupied.

But, the Fall Seasonal had paid enough attention to remark, "He's moving too fast for your eyes to pick it up."

"That and it's possible he's manipulating the space around you so it makes it look like he isn't there," Dais added in.

Both men happened to be professionals at the stunts Thanos was currently using, and could most likely give lectures on the subject.

Aarde was thoroughly annoyed now, "Coward!"

After that comment, the ice demon knocked the wakizashi from her hands, and then hit her in the back of her head with his hilt. Like the two other Elemental Senshi, Aarde instantly collapsed and didn't move.

'He's relying on the fact we're tired, and our senses are being skewed by the Raikken's presence over top of the negative energy. Add to the fact we have to concentrate to form and use our weapons,' Glacia gritted her teeth together in annoyance, 'An, I don't suppose you could give me a little help with this?'

'Already working on it,' the girl murmured back over the link.

The Elemental Senshi, early on, had learned to count on Elayne especially when their senses were being misled. For some reason the enemy's energy, and spells, never had any affect on the girl.

The four had never quite understood it, neither had the girl for that matter, but none of them had bothered to question it too much. That little blessing came in exceedingly handy in dire situations.

'Behind you, and to the left!'

Glacia quickly took aim as she followed the girls directions, and actually managed to hit the demon…It wasn't where she had hoped to strike him, but the arrow now protruded from his leg. Her eyes flashed, "Not so macho now, are you?"

Thanos was slightly taken aback, how had she found him out? Well, he couldn't worry about that right now. He easily removed the arrow from his leg, acting as though the wound were not even there.

"I know better than to attack you head on, especially when you have so much energy left to use against me. In your minds, I am evil, am I not? So, when have you ever known 'evil' to play fair?"

The ice demon now lightly held his sword in his hands, "And if you noticed, I merely subdued your friends. You'll be joining them soon enough. I have a personal matter to take up with the Ronin."

Glacia's eyes narrowed as she drew an arrow from her quiver, "I don't go down that easily."

She was quick to fire and he dodged, just like she had expected him too. As he moved to avoid the one, another was already sent streaming his way. However, to her annoyance he managed to avoid it completely.

The Senshi of Water and Ice managed to keep pace with Thanos for several more minutes, before she lost her balance having tried to dodge a beam of energy he sent at her. The ice demon wasted no time in taking advantage of this, quickly disarming the Senshi.

Just as he was prepared to deliver the knockout blow…At the last possible minute he was halted by a yari.

"Hands off the elemental partner slimeball," Cye calmly said, before forcing the demon back.

The Ronin of Halo had moved in behind Torrent's bearer, and now offered a hand to Glacia, "Come on, I'll help you up."

She scowled at the gesture, before Sage rolled his violet eyes and hauled her to her feet. He then proceeded to give her a gentle nudge, "Go see to your teammates, the Seasonals took them out of the direct line of fire."

Seeing Glacia was prepared to argue with the swordsman, Rowen added, "No worries, we've got this."

"Fine," the Senshi conceded taking her leave, and quickly moving out of their way. She caught sight of the Seasonals, her semi-conscious teammates and Elayne, at the mouth of the tunnel.

"Ah Ronin Warriors, feeling better?" Thanos queried, after Cye had shoved him away he had pulled back from the fighting. He had been simply waiting for them to gather so that he could deal with them more effectively.

"Good enough that we can take you out," Kento shot.

Thanos snorted back a laugh, but just barley as he raised an off-white eyebrow, "Oh, really? I'm well aware of you energy levels Hardrock, and if you put them all together it might be enough to take out half a General."

"All those in favor of taking this guy out, say I," Rowen muttered lowly so that only his teammates would hear.

"I."

Ryo then eyed the archer, "Have a plan, Ro?"

"Hell no, but this guy is in need of a humility lesson," Strata's bearer cheerfully responded.

'Great, that's reassuring to hear,' Ryo thought to himself, instinctively tightening the grip on his katana.

Thanos paused a moment as he surveyed the five young men, he then threw himself back into fighting. The Ronin Warriors stood ready, and engaged him.

The Elemental Senshi were lucky…The Seasonals and Ronin Elementals had managed to break through the Raikken and help them out. Ryo had asked the Seasonals to get the Senshi out, and Anubis had complied…Knowing very well this had become a personal matter between the Ronin and the ice demon.

So, now the Seasonals stood at the mouth of the tunnel with the Elemental Senshi…Their eyes mainly fixed on the fighting around them, noting that it was starting to slow down.

"Thanks for bailing us out," Nova murmured to the Spring Seasonal.

Anubis gave her a kind smile, "It was not a problem." His eyes quickly swerved back to the fighting, pausing on where Kayura stood but a few feet from him trying to get the mystical objects to do what she asked.

The Inner and Outer Senshi were starting to drop out of the fighting, exhausted and battered…There were not that many Raikken left, but with the rate the Senshi were starting to back off at, there'd be more Raikken then warriors available.

And after watching the Ronin fight with Thanos for fifteen minutes, Anubis had merely confirmed what he was already thinking in his head. Out of everyone else, the Ronin were completely exhausted.

'We better do something,' White Blaze rumbled out, 'Or, it'll end here.'

The black tiger gave a shake of his head, 'There is nothing we can do. But even at that, it will not end here she won't let it.'

'Guys' Cye reached out to the others, 'I don't know how much longer I can keep this up, or how any of us can.'

'He's right, we're still wiped from Inferno,' the Warrior of Strength remarked in annoyance; he was not enjoying the fact he was losing a fight.

The archer gave a curt nod, dropping back from fighting with Thanos as Sage had stepped in to take over, 'I know that, we know that there's a need to end this quickly. But I have no idea how to do it.'

'We're really out of options aren't we?' Sage queried, 'I know Kayura is working on getting us out of here, but we've run out of time.'

'If we use Inferno again,' the Ronin Leader commented as he joined the blond in contending with the ice demon. 'We all know what's going to happen…Kayura never needed to state it.'

'Ya, but if we use it against Icicle, who's going to stop Akemliek?' Kento commented.

The other four were silent at this…As each knew the answer to the question…If they were gone; no one was going to be able to stop Akemliek according to the Senshi of the Universe, and though for the most part they barely remembered her they doubted very much she was lying. And while the Seasonals might be willing to lend their power to Ryo, the other four were not going to permit their leader to make that sacrifice by himself…Not again.

Thanos gave a snort as he slowly started to draw the Ronin of Wildfire away from the other four, "I'm rather disappointed."

His tone contained a slight taunt one he was certain would get the Ronin, "I was expecting more of a fight than this. I wonder about your guardians though. They don't do a very good job, do they?"

"Why don't you shut up?" Kento bellowed out, not liking the obvious attack on Kayura nor the implied one on Universe, "Seeing as how, up until this point, you were always hiding behind your sister's shadow."

It was definitely the wrong chord to strike.

Thanos disappeared from where he was fighting Ryo, and reappeared next the Ronin of Hardrock, "The comment was not directed to you, but since you felt the need to involve yourself…"

Cye quickly stepped in, blocking the aimed strike, a low growl permeated his throat…Though he made no comment to the demon at all.

The ice demon merely used his free hand to let off a beam of energy at the two…It tore both of them off their feet in an instant, as well as draining them of what little strength they had left.

"Why you," Rowen's eyes narrowed as he notched off an arrow. A hollow chuckle from behind told the Strata Ronin that he had missed his mark. When he found himself on the floor, struggling to get back up, he knew for certain that he had missed.

Sage had managed to pull up enough energy to focus it into his sword he then let loose his surekill on the demon. Though he hit his target dead-on, with the swordsman being deprived of his element for so long and having lost most of his strength to Inferno…It wasn't enough to do any major damage.

The Ronin of Halo was sent careening back into the cavern wall; he bit down a yell and then crumpled to the floor. His eyes were closed, and his breathing labored.

Ryo had been delayed by the few Raikken still about, but he finally managed to finish dealing with them. His blue eyes widened at seeing what had been done in his absence…They then sparked and narrowed, only more so when he heard the ice demon's comment.

"Let that be a lesson to you, when the attention is diverted from you," Thanos calmly said as he walked away from them, "Do not cause it to be transferred back to you."

Already, Thanos had made a fatal error…In doing as he had, he had only served to enrage the Ronin of Wildfire. In his current weakened stated, Inferno easily used the rage and anger building up in the Ronin…It didn't need to be called to affect the bearer of Wildfire.

When Ryo attacked him, the ice demon was momentarily taken a back by Wildfire's renewed efforts to fight him. It wouldn't last much longer though, as Ryo tried to focus his armor's power…Thanos hit him hard, catching him off guard and forcing him to loose his breath.

The ice demon didn't let up, and then all of a sudden pulled back as Ryo went crashing to his knees, commenting, "I give you Ronin Warriors credit, you are true masters of your arts. Especially for humans, and ones as young as you are. However, I regret to inform you that you have failed."

The Ronin Leader realized that Thanos had pushed him back to where the other Ronin still lay…Ryo's body was screaming at him, and then some. It couldn't handle this anymore. It didn't want to.

He forced himself to pick back up his swords which he had dropped, and now took up a defensive stance.

"Kayura," Glacia worriedly commented to the women, wincing as Thanos fought with the Ronin.

One eye opened, "I'm trying, but the staff isn't cooperating. I think it's waiting."

"For what? The Ronin to be pancakes?" Empyrean's exasperation was quite apparent.

Aarde gave a derisive snort, "Didn't Kaosu have this habit of saving the guys at the last minute? Maybe it was actually the staff not letting him do anything until the last minute."

"So, it's waiting for them to be dead before it does anything? Isn't that a little far-fetched," Nova raised an eyebrow.

The Spring Seasonal gave a cough, muttering, "Not really."

"Oh ya that's great," the Senshi of Water and Ice commented, "Nice, very nice."

"We really need to help them," Sailor Moon murmured, the anxiousness in her voice increasing.

Sailor Jupiter rubbed at her leg, almost sure it was broken, "How though, we could barely help ourselves. Mars and Venus are the only ones still capable of fighting, and even the Outer aren't in great shape."

Uranus scoffed, "It's not that bad," She winced and turned her head, as Neptune removed the spearhead from her arm.

"Yeah, sure," Galaxy snorted out, rolling her eyes, she was pretty sure her ankle was twisted.

Saturn was scowling…And then she watched as Thanos beat Ryo back to the others, and started to conjure energy. They'd never survive that kind of hit, not in that shape.

"That's it," the smallest of the Senshi resolutely stated, grabbing her glaive; halting when Pluto stopped her.

The Elder Scout shook her head, "You're not supposed to use it, and you know she wouldn't let you. Especially, if she prevented me from stopping time."

"If she were going to do…" Saturn's eyes slightly widened in realization. "Of course, by the agreement she's under…She can only intervene to prevent death, unless otherwise asked."

She turned her head back to the Ronin, when she heard gasps coming from the other Senshi.

Thanos let the energy loose on the Ronin, fully expecting it to hit them…Oh, it hit them all right, and then deflected to the wall behind them.

It was hard to say who was more surprised the ice demon, or Ryo at the fact that his armor had just put up a shield around him. It had been ages since it had done such a thing and slightly turning his head he could see that the other armors had also reacted to protect their wearers.

"Interesting development," the ice demon mused, "Well perhaps I'll just turn my attention to the Senshi." Thanos said this as more of a taunt than anything else, curious to see if the same thing would happen.

Not to his surprise it did…Though the Senshi were definitely shocked, their powers never having reacted like that before. Even the Seasonals and Elemental Senshi had these shields spring up on them. The only ones left without such things were the two tigers and the girl.

'Well I'll be, they actually listened this time around,' White Blaze let out a low rumbling chuckle.

"Clever, the source of your powers protects you," Thanos commented, putting his sword away. "But they won't last for very long."

"He's right, we've used our own strength and theirs way too much," Glacia murmured out. "Kayura, can you have us out of here within the next ten minutes?"

The Lady Ancient only offered a shake of her head, she didn't want to elaborate and break the concentration she had so far established…If they made it out of this, she was slamming Kaosu over the head with the shajuko.

The first reason was for not being as helpful as he could have been, second for not bothering to teach her a better transport spell, and thirdly for leaving this worthless shajuko with her.

"Good to know," Sekhmet mused, cracking his neck, saying to the other three, "I guess we'll go after him next. We might not have too much strength left, but we've been through these types of fights a million times over."

Cale gave a nod, "The problem remains if he gets through us quickly, and the others are still here."

"I have an idea, and you're not going to like it," Elayne broke into their conversation, in a quiet tone so as not to let the Elementals overhear. "I told Ryo a while ago that the only thing I was good for was serving as a distraction."

"You're crazy," Dais said to her much louder, "You think the Ronin, or Senshi, or us for that matter-"

"If you have a better suggestion Dais tell me," the girl cut him off before he could blurt it out any louder. "In the end you're the ones needed alive, not me. I can buy you more time than what you have."

"Elayne," Anubis began in a soft tone. "This is risky and dangerous. I think more than you realize."

"I realized long before you did, that all of you coming here was suicide," the girl told him in a calm tone. "You can't expect me to sit here and do nothing. I was put here to help you, so I'm going to help."

The Elementals were fully prepared to argue it with her, and would have, except the girl drew in a sharp breath jumped forward and whirled around just as the cavern wall broke apart.

"Oh why don't you morons give it a rest," Elayne said in complaint, going for her dagger, and withdrawing it. The Raikken were rogue, identifiable by the fact the armor was far more worn, and tarnished. Without being in Akemliek's service, they did not gain his protection…Meaning the passage of time affected them greatly.

The one lunged for her and she managed to side-stepped it, after bringing her tanto up and through where the armor didn't touch. The other was not as easy to get rid of, as it kept evading her offensive actions. Finally the girl slipped into a defensive stance, and when it made its move she quickly dealt with it.

Elayne calmed her breathing, and her eyes widened a little when she realized exactly how far out the demon had put her. Right into…She spun on a dime, slipped back into her stance and held the yoroidoshi at ready, and her hazel-violet eyes locked onto Thanos and staid there.

"You do know how to fight," the ice demon sounded amused, but it faded as he put the emotion aside. "It isn't a wonder Kali had trouble trying to capture you."

The girl gave a snort, "You should've asked the warriors they know I'm more trouble than I'm worth. You guys were really desperate though, weren't you? My existence was practically ignored by Akemliek for ages. Things not going the way you planned?"

Outwardly she was appearing cool and confident. Inwardly, Elayne was trying to come up with some sort of plan to distract him without getting herself maimed and most likely killed. A yoroidoshi was not going to cut it against his blade, and she knew that.

'Well, at least now they can't tell me not to get involved, I'm kind of standing right here,' the girl thought dryly to herself.

Thanos scoffed at her, "Akemliek thought it might be beneficial to have you as leverage, that is the only reason my sister even bothered. That and she found you to be an annoying little nuisance."

"Ya, her and everyone in this cavern right now," Elayne said with a roll of her eyes. "I'm not here to be liked I was put here to help them out. I have done so, and will continue doing so until I can't anymore."

"Oh is that a challenge?" the ice demon raised both eyebrows and tilted his head at her. "What exactly is going to stand in my way here? You and…?"

A scowl now formed on her face, and acidly came her defiant response, "Me and my bitchy attitude, that's what."

Thanos let out a light chuckle, very amused by the human's display of show, he soon became quite serious, "I don't make it a point of fighting with your type."

"Oh? Your sister did, she seemed to enjoy losing too," the girl knew she was pushing the correct buttons because his eyes narrowed into a hateful stare. "Ah, I struck the right nerve, didn't I?"

"Do you have a death wish?" he growled out in a low tone of voice.

Elayne gave another snort, but no direct answer to that question. Apparently, she thought the answer was rather obvious.

Ryo had sheathed his swords after realizing that the energy shield around him wasn't going anywhere, nor was it going to let any of his strikes get past. It was protecting him from himself, as much as it was keeping Thanos from getting to him.

To his relief the other four Ronin had been quick to regain consciousness, and eventually they hauled themselves to their feet. The five young men had worriedly listened to the exchange that took place between the Seasonals and Elayne.

Though the girl had tried to keep it initially quiet, with the way the men reacted she had raised her voice as well. Plus the way the sound carried in this cavern had enabled them to hear the entire conversation.

Now, the girl was directly in the line of fire and that thought alone made his blood boil…Partially enraged the others, as there was nothing they could do to stop anything from happening to her.

But…The Ronin of Wildfire let out a sigh, before withdrawing one katana with his left hand. The action did not go unnoticed by the other four, and Rowen spoke up.

"What are you doing?"

"There's no way she can fight him with a tanto," the Ronin Leader answered, calling softly, "Blaze?"

The white tiger had abandoned his spot next to his twin, and padded over to the Ronin some moments ago to check on them.

He turned his head and walked directly in front of the bearer of Wildfire, 'What is it, cub?'

"Give this to Elayne," Ryo murmured as he kneeled down, not surprised when the shield let the tiger in. He had expected it would do that.

White Blaze gently grasped the hilt of the sword in his teeth and gave a nod, before turning around and bounding off towards where the girl was. The stalemate between her and the ice demon was about to end, and the tiger knew he had better hurry.

"Stop trying to bore holes into my back you guys," Ryo told his teammates rolling his eyes to the ceiling. He didn't even have to turn around and look to know they were doing staring at him.

"Ry, you did not teach her to-" Cye blinked as he thought about it, then sighed, "You did."

"You going to tell me, you kept her training just to the basic self-defense?" now the Ronin of Wildfire turned his head to look at his four friends, he raised one eyebrow. "And, never taught her how to use the weapons you happened to be the best with?"

Needless to say when the four of them simultaneously coughed, and then looked away from him, Ryo could hardly have been stunned. They had just pronounced their guilt quite effectively.

"That's what I figured," he remarked, biting down a chuckle.

Thanos' patience was starting to wear thin with the girl, and as she made a sharp remark, his sense of thought left him and he moved. His strike advance was blocked by a katana, and his surprise doubled at seeing the white tiger holding the blade.

Blaze gave an irritated growl, before pushing the demon back. Thanos was wary of the creature and held off on making a forward advance. He didn't feel like dealing with claws and teeth right then.

The white tiger focused his attention on Elayne, who looked completely lost and bewildered. "What are you doing?"

He rolled his brown eyes and approached her with the sword in his mouth; he tilted his head up at her, motioning for her to take it.

"Oh." The girl berated herself for having a Serena-moment, and took it from him, "Thanks for bringing this, boy."

'Not a problem, make sure to stab him with it,' he gave a grin and bow of his head, before moving out of the way. He knew better than to get in a middle of a fight when he was not really needed.

"Thanks Ryo, owe you one," Elayne called out to him, before turning her attention to Thanos, "Now what were you saying? Something that implied you were going to kill me?"

Thanos narrowed his eyes into a hateful stare, "You have done nothing but provoke. If you wish to fight so be it. At this point, whether you live or die is inconsequential."

"Ah, we agree on something," the girl said in a calm tone. She took up a stance, holding the katana in her left hand.

This was all the confirmation Thanos needed, before he engaged her in combat.

Thanos was definitely impressed, the Ronin had taught the girl well. It was true he had cut into her a few times now, but they had been relatively minor. She fought well with the katana, especially considering it wasn't made for her…That's also what impressed him.

As the minutes slowly started to play out, the ice demon started to notice something and he found it to be quite odd. Every now and then, she would lose her breath, or wince as though she were in pain.

He had not struck her at all, or done anything to warrant such a reaction, and this fact had him quite perplexed. Just what was going on? Not that he cared for her well-being; he just didn't like curiosities of such a nature.

"Something wrong?" he asked in a bored tone.

Elayne was caught slightly off guard by the question, but managed to recover enough to block his next strike. She then used his momentum against him letting him fall forward.

The girl kicked him hard in the leg, and brought down the sword, but he managed to roll and spring back up. Once more she was forced to go back to the defensive, waiting for an opportunity to present itself. She was thanking her lucky stars, at this point, that the Ronin had caved in to her constant begging when she was little; if they hadn't taught her how to fight and defend herself she would've been dead ages ago. Not to mention the obvious fact that she certainly wouldn't have been able to hold out against Thanos for this long.

The ice demon was not surprised when she made no response, but he thoughtfully frowned when she took in a sharp breath.

Elayne shook her head to clear it, tightening her grip on the katana and bringing it back up, her sword arm having fallen slightly. It was getting harder…She could barely block out the pain.

"You can't possibly be hurting from my attacks, I haven't gotten in enough," Thanos remarked. He was still thinking it over, and then it seemed to click.

"Of course," he finally said, "You're what they call a sensitive."

Thanos pulled back a moment, halted in his fight with her, "You're reacting to their pain, not yours. You can feel it."

The girl's shoulders quaked slightly from her labored breathing, she kept her eyes on the ice demon, not bothering to glance at the others…She already knew they were staring at her, could feel they were startled by the claim and waiting for her to denounce it.

She shouldn't say anything, did she really need to acknowledge his comments, give him that sort of satisfaction? No, there was no point in bothering…But, there were some things she felt the others needed to know, things she should have been able to tell them ages ago, but just couldn't. Now that it had come down to the wire, the girl felt obligated to share something, and Thanos had given her the opening to do that.

"All too well," Elayne finally answered, her breathing now back under control. Her eyes narrowed as she lunged for the demon, then at the last moment she spun and tried to cut him in the side; not to her surprise Thanos was able to block it.

"Everyone assumed I was sent to the United States because Daiki was tired of me, that wasn't true. I'm the one who asked him to send me there. I knew I couldn't be here, I'd have been a distraction to them, but I would have picked up on the battles if I staid."

"Well, you're more intuitive than we thought to give you credit for," the ice demon remarked, not really enthused by her attempts to fight him. He was far more interested in the information she was revealing. "Staying out of the way, to avoid harming both."

She gave a snort, let out a bitter chuckle, "It didn't work on my end, the Elementals can attest to that. I was in so much pain, ended up in the hospital, and the doctors put me into a drug induced coma because they couldn't tell what was wrong. They only knew the fact it was getting worse."

There were widened eyes around the cavern at hearing this, and the Elementals could only exchange worried glances with each other. The girl had told them she never planned on telling the other warriors what had happened, unless she…The thought remained unfinished.

"When Talpa actually pulled off coming into this world in his full form? Began the bridging of both realms?" the girl took a pause, before saying in a disgusted tone of voice, "My heart stopped."

There, she had said it and she so knew how the Ronin were reacting to that without having to look their way. Stunned, and perhaps a bit guilty for not having guessed what had happened.

Elayne struck out with her right leg, once more knocking her opponent off balance, but this time she managed to get in a hit with the katana. Talking while fighting was serving to distract the ice demon, while serving the purpose of buying the others time. The shield's were slowly starting to fade…She needed to hold out for a bit longer.

Thanos, however, was not going to be cooperative. He was starting to tire of this fight now, "So you knew of the danger they were in on a daily basis?"

"Always have, and always will," the girl fired back, slightly gasping when the demon started to fight with more vigor.

She was running out of time, and she knew it, 'I thought the Senshi broke the seal!'

'They did break the seal the Council formed. But, the connection has to be reestablished in order for that power to be usable.'

'Crap, I forgot,' Elayne lamented as she pulled back, Thanos having made a wound in her side, far deeper than any of the previous wounds. She almost went to cover it, but stopped herself. 'Exactly how does such a connection get reestablished, anyway?'

'Wait a minute,' the girl's eyes narrowed as she thought it over. 'The Council enacted that seal with light. Meaning in order to fix the connection, darkness has to be used!'

'Exactly.'

Elayne's eyes widened as Thanos took a dagger and tried to catch her with it. She managed to get it out of his hands quick enough, and shot out, "Your sister tried that trick. I don't fall for the same one twice."

A few minutes later, and it all ended…The ice demon managed to catch the girl by her throat with his free hand, and slowly lifted her up off the ground. Elayne winced, and instantly knew this was her last shot, she had to provoke him further.

She struggled against him releasing her hold on the katana, and managed to kick him hard in the gut. Thanos let out a slight snarl, and without thinking about it, he let the dark energy enter her small form. The girl issued no scream, as he was practically crushing her windpipe…He then tossed her with a great deal of force, and she slammed into a wall...And, didn't stir.