Well, this is a bit of a surprise. After finishing the previous chapter, I managed to belt this one out in two afternoons, though I don't expect to replicate that feat. The fight between the COs plays fast and loose with the laws of physics, but that's what a strange energy and strange abilities are for, isn't it? I went over it and revised, so I believe it is at least consistent with itself. At the very least, I hope it is quite a spectacle.

Venture Capital IV: Nell VS Olaf

Jefferson City, Final Defensive Circle

December 13, 9:35 PM

Despite the winter weather, the air within the Jefferson Tower's command room was yet chilled by the building's air conditioning system. Officers around the rotunda sat and typed at their consoles, but the idle chitchat of hours earlier had been replaced by a resolve such that one would be pardoned for wondering if all in the room were dead.

All, of course, except the figures at the room's center. Inside the Break Amplifier sat OF-Colonel Jackal, with Captain Allen pacing around her, a crooked grin adorning his scarred face. His teeth were a display of veiled aggression, yet his eyes shone with childlike excitement rather than malice.

To their sides sat General Carpenter and General Vance, engaged in a lively conversation via their terminals regarding the misfortune of being stuck on defense with their forces commanded by an OF who was not quite the best pick for the job.

And around the tower, weary soldiers mobilized to meet the Blue Moon assault. They had been told that the enemy would arrive from all sides. They had been told they had the advantage in firepower and supplies.

They had not been told that the capital's stocks of weapons and ammunition were reaching their limit. They had not been told that the enemy commander was ideal for the task at hand, while theirs cared little for what sacrifices had to be made in order to secure victory.

For commanding from the HQ Tower at Fort Halberd was CO-Colonel Grit of Blue Moon, basking in the swirl of power emanating in wisps from the fully-charged Break Amplifier.

"A shame you can't feel this, Hadrian." Grit reached up a hand and swirled around the steamlike particles. "It's like a sauna in spring, that's what it is."

Lieutenant Nyberg hadn't heard anything like that before. Most Breakcoms, from what he'd heard, described that energy as a rush of adrenaline or even a pleasurable electrocution.

"This is it, isn't it, Colonel?" The lieutenant was certainly feeling that sense of finality as it bounced around the room – the HQ was abuzz with excitement from the younger officers, caution from the older ones.

"Isn't Grit easier to say, Hadrian?"

Of course, this again. "Isn't Nyberg or Lieutenant easier to say?"

Grit chuckled. "Not really. Now, for your question: only if we win both our battles today. For instance, Nell's out there still."

Grit stared out the window at the whirling snow. "To be honest, I'm also a bit worried the Boss may have mis-estimated her."

The Lieutenant shuddered, remembering the eerie sights from a couple weeks before; those images of orange tanks emerging from artillery barrages unscathed, while Blue Moon soldiers died from nasty wounds, wounds that killed them faster than Emeraldine could heal. One clip wouldn't leave his mind: a sniper's bullet had carved through the hearts and lungs of three soldiers at once, a physical impossibility. The soldiers hadn't even been *that* close to each other.

However, this was CO-General Olaf she had to fight today. "If anyone can beat her, it's our leader."

"Yeah, I guess." Grit didn't seem so convinced. "Well, that's not our worry. Frosty may lose, but I trust him not to die out there. This plan'll work either way."

He leaned back. "These last few days haven't been for nothin'. With each assault, we've inched ever closer to that there stronghold. More important, we've procured some great shooting sites for them rockets. With Nelly in charge, she could hold those walls for a few more days by sendin' our rockets every which way, but since the gal's gone to duel with Frosty..."

The tingling in Nyberg's chest accelerated; that's right, his commander was rarely ever this confident about a plan. If even he was sure, then they really couldn't lose.

The edges of Grit's lips lifted slightly. "Now, don't get ahead o' yourself now, Hadrian. Always a thousand ways to break a perfect plan."

"Right, sir. Sorry." The lieutenant looked at the battle map. Blue Moon's battle lines around the wall were still technically too far away to shell the final wall, even with Grit in command. However, Orange Star's intel was wrong: Grit's CO Power was capable of far more than it had been the last time Orange Star had faced him. In every recent use of his CO Power, Grit had held back, not using to its maximum potential, all in preparation for this moment.

"Sir. Their defenders are staying in place, but they've got a bunch of hardware coming out to meet us."

And that did appear to be the case. There were some infantry groups leaving the safety of the walls, but mostly tanks, even some heavy tanks taking the roads.

"Estimated time to contact, 20 minutes. If we take into account the guerilla forces that are out beyond the wall as well, I think it's safe to say they'll get to us right after we fire." Nyberg thought a moment. "If we have our rockets target their advance forces instead of the walls..."

"Nah, that'll be what they want us to do." Grit shot down that idea immediately. "We've got the artillery trained on 'em anyways. Knowin' Orange Star, they'll fall back after the barrage to figure things out."

"Yes, sir."

Then, the lieutenant heard Grit's voice in his head through the Comnet. 'Hey all, it's Grit. Artillery and rocket crews, first barrage will be timed within fifteen minutes. Signal will come through the Comnet. All else, just keep an eye out 'cause there's some armor coming to greet us.'

Fort Halberd

9:50 PM

"Jackal. That's the name of the enemy commander, right?" Grit smiled to himself. "Not your luck today, kid. Time for you to learn what it's like to play in the big leagues."

CO Power: Snipe Attack.

A ring of light appeared around the antenna atop Fort Halberd's HQ, and then shot outwards. For a brief moment it seemed as if the sun had emerged from behind the stormclouds that covered the land.

And then, Grit was there, with every Blue Moon artillery and rocket operator in the area, guiding their hands and thoughts as they oriented their weapons. After all, firing a weapon is affected by (though not limited to) four major factors. First, the calibration and force of the weapon's blast has to be accounted for. Second, the effect of gravity and the distance to the target has to be factored in. Third, if the targets are in motion, the weapon needs to be aimed at where they will be rather than where they currently are; an inexact science, but patterns are predictable. Finally, external factors such as wind speed and airborne objects (such as the snow and hail that now poured from the sky) need to be adjusted for.

From within the augmented Comnet, Grit could directly observe all of these factors and more, plotting the complex equations using the minds of his soldiers as a neural network. In that same way, once all of the calculations were complete, he could coordinate his rocket crews to fire in a staggered pattern such that each wave of their ordnance would strike the enemy at exactly the same instant.

North Jefferson City

Parking Lot – Ruined Mega-mall Complex

9:54 PM

During Blue Moon's occupation of the second ring of the city, the Jefferson Center shopping complex had proved to be as successful of a site for guerrilla activity as it had been at attracting customers before the war. After attacks around the area escalated and Blue Moon scout teams were unable to dislodge the insurgents, the entire mall complex was shelled by artillery until everyone inside had surrendered or died.

A few signs of what the mall had used to be remained around the site. At the center was a massive pit full of rubble, where the atrium had been; the remains of the escalators were still visible among the ruins, as well as the remains of support pillars. Despite all the rubble, the central area had not quite been filled in. Perhaps if someone were to dig around the rubble, they would find enough spare clothing and food to kickstart the repairs to the city. Much of the food might still be edible, preserved by the cold of winter, and the underground areas might make for good shelter if the structure was still solid enough.

With this ruin as a backdrop, two APCs – one Blue Moon, one Orange Star – stopped at the edges of the parking lot, each depositing a single passenger before driving off into the blizzard. Each of these titans could take on perhaps an entire company of soldiers and emerge unscathed. The soldiers went off to their battle, leaving the two monsters to fight on the level that only monsters could.

The two figures stood and stared at each other, shuddering in excitement. The sounds of explosions filled the air; it seemed the battle had started nearby. Nobody else dared approach the mall area, though. It was one on one, winner takes all.

Olaf smiled, and ran his hand through his beard, wiping away the frost that coated it. "I've been waiting for this moment, Nell."

Nell's eyes glowed as she approached, her figure tense and robotic. "At least you had enough courtesy to come at all."

"What do you mean?" Olaf laughed. "I'm actually surprised that *you* came. After all, it was only five years ago that I told you we'd meet again, yet you didn't go after me when the dust settled.."

"If that's what you expected, then you never did understand me." Nell took a few more steps forward, then stopped. The two combatants were now just 10 meters away from each other. "However, I knew that you would get tired of waiting eventually."

"Now that I have, what do you think?" Her adversary's grin widened. "It's your turn this time, Nell. What is it like to watch your country eaten by its hungry neighbor?"

Nell did not move or change her expression. "Talking like you've already won?"

Olaf reached into his coat and pulled out a weapon: a custom-modified Blue Moon RPK light machine gun; an accurate weapon with an almost bottomless clip. "Don't be like that, Nell. I just want to have my say before I kill you, that's all."

"Then let me have my say." Nell reached her hand down to the gun belt under her coat; one machine pistol, one revolver, both optimized to penetrate a B-Field. Olaf would no doubt be the one to make the first move.

She continued talking as she walked, circling toward the wreckage of an SUV for cover. "It was 26 years we had control of Blue Moon, both here and on the mainland. We let you retain control of your local and regional governments, your defense forces, and your way of life. All we wanted was your allegiance against the other nations."

Her enemy's eyes flared. "Spin it any way you want, Nell. You didn't have to grow up in a nation whose pride was stomped on with every slimy word from your 'benevolent' northern neighbor."

"How long were you planning it?" Nell stopped just short of the van's husk. "Did you incite the rebellion? If not, who did?"

"Once again, you show your ignorance!" Olaf roared. "Incite a rebellion? You talk as though we weren't all planning it in the first place!"

He took a step forward; Nell tensed, ready to move. "Why did you think our defiant stares gave way to honeyed words and cooperation? Were you arrogant enough to believe that the entire nation had accepted you as our puppeteer? Did you really believe we would face the death of our souls with dances, not bullets?"

Another step, then another. "Do you know what it was like working within your government, smiling and saluting and acting perfectly loyal, to the point where even that psychopath Foster didn't suspect me? And then, when I finally reached the position of General, I had to hold myself back, waiting for precisely the right moment?"

Nell dived on instinct, ducking behind the frame of the wrecked SUV. A moment later, a stream of bullets tore through the frame, prompting her to drop to the snowy ground below.

"But it all paid off, Nell. It paid off five years ago, when Black Hole's timely assistance stopped you from interfering with our nationhood any longer. And it's paid off again now, as the entirety of your Cosmo Land colony is almost under my control."

Nell's senses sounded another alarm, and she pushed off the ground with Break energy, dashing behind another ruined car just before a three-meter-tall wave of snow and ice crashed down on what remained of the SUV's frame at her previous position. As she stood up, she saw Olaf, standing still out in the open, a whirlwind of snow and ice as a barrier around him, and perhaps the most maniacal expression she had ever seen was painted across his face. Another ghastly laugh emerged from his lips.

"You know what, Nell? With Max out of the action, you're the only one from our old group left to oppose me. Once I sweep you out of the way, I won't even have to rush at conquering your mainland."

Despite the open ending, Nell knew that the old bastard's monologue was over. Time to take this seriously. Her pulse raced; due to her "lucky field," it was unlikely he'd be able to shoot her. However, her luck abilities didn't allow her to convert Break energy into matter like Olaf could with ice.

Another hail of bullets ripped across the parking lot; Nell heard the whooshing of air and dropped to the ground, and the sounds of bullets rang out around her, thudding into the snow.

Then, the ground was suddenly away from her feet, and she was buffeted around by wind and ice, picked up by a kind of whirlwind a meter across. As the mini-tornado spun her world around, Olaf roared, and another mass of snow and ice appeared around him, drove forward to pick up scraps of metal from a wreck, then went rocketing upwards into the whirlwind. Nell twisted around, lucky enough to dodge the jagged scraps, but the force of the gravity-defying snowdrift knocked her off the top of the whirlwind and sprawling back to the pavement. A hard impact rocked her body, even through her B-field; the snow on the ground had hardened into ice. The temperature was dropping; Olaf's very presence was lowering the temperature, an ability he'd dubbed "Deep Freeze."

Her ears rang, but her body was calm. Olaf was still fighting the same way as before. Both her and him were extremely quick at transforming the Break Energy around them, and thanks to the bloodshed of the battle for the capital, they'd both have plenty of it to spare.

"Are you trying to insult me?" Olaf spat. "Fight back, Nell. Or have you lost so much hope that all you can do is make this kill unsatisfying?"

She couldn't help it anymore; a slight giggle escaped her lips. As she pulled herself up, Olaf's RPK rang out again. Nell mentally stroked the air around her, and the bullets danced away, splattering against the ice to the sides of her as she stood again, machine pistol in her left hand, revolver in her right.

Olaf's eyes widened. "I understand now. You actually think the greater battle is yours if I'm not there, don't you?"

"Don't misunderstand, General. I'm not that delusional. I knew that if you were moving now, then the battle for the capital was yours to win regardless."

"What?" Olaf's shook his head dismissively, teeth gritted.

"I'm just here..." Nell kicked off the ground, the gap between her and Olaf closing in a split second.

"...to make sure you won't be alive to see it fall into Blue Moon hands." Her body was instantly caught in Olaf's whirlwind shield, but she knew that none of the sharp shards within it would strike her. As she spun in the wind, lifted up and over him, watching his face go from arrogance to shock, she took in that exquisite expression as both of her fingers came down on her pistols' triggers.

9:58 PM

One wave of rockets and shells every twenty seconds. Twenty waves total. Seven minutes and it was over; the power permeating the air disappeared, and the Blue Moon indirect crews took to restocking and reloading. Grit's CO Power was short-lived, after all; however, none inside the Jefferson Tower could deny its power and effectiveness.

Six large breaches in the final wall. An entire fifth of the wall's defenders wiped out in one barrage. A tenth of the advancing force destroyed or scattered by artillery fire.

Captain Allen heard a screech from the side; there was the expected overreaction from General Vance, though a little later than he'd expected. "Allen, you idiot! What is the meaning of this?"

"About to ask ya the same damn thing, Payton." Allen whirled around flamboyantly and rested his arm on the side of the Amplifier's chair. "You told me that we were still outside even that Grit bastard's rocket range. What gives?"

"I... Miriam! What... what..." Vance clutched at the air.

"It seems we were mistaken." Carpenter's shoulders slumped. "The point of their push wasn't to advance their rockets into firing range. The enemy CO... Grit..."

"Grit." Vance's growl was that of a man hunting his mortal enemy. "He wasn't supposed to be able to fire this far away, and still..."

"What, extending his rockets' range by over half, and coordinating all their strikes with pinpoint accuracy?" Allen laughed. "Sounds like a regular CO Power to me."

"What the devil is so funny, Captain?" Vance boomed. "If you don't have a good excuse, then shut up and do your job!"

"No, no, General. I just like to look on the bright side of life. Especially..." A smirk came to Allen's face. "Knowing that the big bad wolf is the guy on the other end. Heh heh heh..."

"Allen. What is the meaning of this?" Carpenter's voice was soft, but threatening.

"Means y'all give up too easy. If he's releasing power all crazy-like, do you think he'll be able to concentrate well when he's not?"

Allen spun a second time, arms raised in front, hands pointed inwards. "And he failed to stop our charge. The big guns will have to take some time and reload, after all. That means we'll get to toe it with the Moonies' paper dolls and plastic tanks."

Carpenter raised her gaze, a wary look on her face. "You intend to press the attack even now? That's..."

"Tactical sense, ma'am." Allen continued pacing in a circle around the Amplifier; after all, Jackal was fine on her own right now. Things weren't crazy enough to require his aid. Besides, all the officers around the room were turning to watch the show, and he couldn't disappoint them, now could he?

"And how many will die?" Vance slammed his hands on his console as he stood. "I'm ordering you to pull back, Captain!"

"Then what, sir? Wait at the walls? Wait for 'em to do it again?" Allen's face stretched, going from smirk to shadowy grin. "With all due respect, sir, that's asking for it. Might as well wrap our civvies in gift paper and send 'em on over to that Evil Santa's workshop."

Vance stared around the room, burning his gaze into each of the support officers that had turned to listen. "Who told you jokers it was break time? Order the troops to pull back!"

"Uh, slight problem there, Gen'ral." Allen shook his pointer finger, ah-ah. "My little Jackie won't let them listen to windbags like you. If you send the order out, she might get angry."

'Ground elements tearing into enemy front line. Bombing has begun.' That balladlike voice rang out over the Comnet, a voice meant only for him. Yes, Captain Ellis Allen was the one holding this lovely monster's leash, not those frightened lard buckets in front of him.

"See? Advance elements have already made contact, so isn't it late to complain? You'll know in just an hour, Gen'ral; there's no contest between my Jackal and their wounded wolf."

"Your Jackal?" Carpenter's glare had little effect on Allen. He could feel the crackling from the Comnet already.

"Problem, Gen'rals?"

"I should have thrown you two out of Orange Star when I had the chance," Carpenter whispered. "Gambling with the lives of our soldiers like this..."

"And then y'all wouldn't have Jackie to shield your asses, and you'd already be fly food," declared Allen, waving away her words. "You know why she doesn't listen to anyone but me? Well, you people could never understand that. Or what, would you have made her a lab rat, tried to turn her into some sorta drugged-up monstrosity conditioned to obey whoever?"

Allen clucked his tongue. "Now how is that humane?"

"She's already a monstrosity." Carpenter advanced towards the pacing Captain. "You two are putting real lives in danger. This isn't a game, Allen. You're relieved of command."

"Very well, General." Allen smirked. "So try taking me away from her. See how she reacts to that."

"You're holding the entire capital hostage and disobeying a direct order from a superior officer!" Vance had finally found his voice again. "I'll have you executed for treason!"

"Trying so hard to reassert control, General?" The climax had come; now to say something cool to finish them off.

"This world belongs to the Breakcoms now, sir. We all are just livin' in it."

North Jefferson City

Parking Lot – Ruined Mega-mall Complex

9:59 PM

Olaf projected a layer of ice, shaped around him like an igloo, just as Nell's first bullets arrived. The bullets broke through before a second was up, but that was enough time for Olaf to dive out of harm's way, though Nell saw a few scraps of metal in the whirlwind he dived through bounce off his B-field.

As Nell fell from the dying wind, she saw Olaf sliding away on the ice, RPK at the ready, and another three-meter-tall pulse of snow and scrap metal already speeding towards her, this time wider than before. Nell landed in a handstand, then angled to the side and pushed off the ice aided by Break energy, propelled to the side just far enough to avoid the snow.

Just in time, because in that instant, another wave of bullets sped towards her from Olaf's gun. Nell fell onto the ice, no longer able to keep her balance, and rolled away from the bullets; a couple grazed her coat. So they *were* designed to break through B-fields after all.

Rolled, not slid; the ice was more solid than before. She'd thought it was still wet if Olaf had been sliding across it, but Olaf had probably aided that slide earlier with Break energy. By her estimate, the air's temperature had dropped at least 10 degrees in Celsius since the start of the fight, and she was starting to feel it through her coat, despite the adrenaline. If things went on too much longer, it could be a problem.

The ground rumbled, and Nell felt the catalysis of a tremendous amount of Break energy from the air.

"I just can't shoot you, can I, Nell? That's fine!" Olaf's figure was only faintly visible; he'd backed up across the parking lot, and now stood atop a mass of churning snow and ice four meters tall and wide enough to engulf a quarter of the parking lot. It was moving slow now, but was picking up speed quickly, accelerated by Olaf's powers. She estimated it would reach her in five seconds. No way to dodge to the side, even with a Breakdash.

Nell stood her ground, and sent a pulse of Break energy into her guns. Then, she fired both at the approaching figure of her enemy. Olaf rose a barrier of ice in front of himself, but luckily, the revolver's bullet struck at the correct angle, and not only went through the ice, but slammed into the side of her enemy's thigh, spraying the top of the oncoming snow pink. As he fell, Nell thought she saw something fall from his right hand – then, she noticed his RPK was not in his hand anymore.

One second until impact. Nell prepared Break under her feet and propelled herself ten meters into the air, jumping above the avalanche and firing down towards Olaf once again. This time, he swung upwards with his arm and all of the bullets... were blocked by something almost invisible.

Three bullets left in her revolver. Machine pistol almost empty. Nell holstered it and grabbed another object inside her coat with her left hand.

As Nell fell towards her enemy, she saw that Olaf stood on a sheet of ice that rode atop the avalanche, which was still accelerating despite the fairly level terrain, normal laws of physics be damned. The sheet was wide enough for two people, so she had to land on it and somehow displace him; even with her luck, it would be a problem to fall into that avalanche. But how had he blocked her bullets?

Oh, that's it. Grasped in Olaf's two hands was a broad-headed, long-handled battle axe made of crystalline ice.

10:02 PM

"Direct contact with enemy forces," reported Lieutenant Nyberg. "Colonel..."

"Grit," the lanky man directed.

"Colonel Grit. My assessment of the strategic situation is as follows. They're attacking us unevenly – probing to find weak points. This must be the commander who was in charge of Orange Star's guerilla operations."

"Hm. Such a slow method ain't so good for fighting 'gainst me," Grit observed. "Since this ain't a Dark Spot, I can snipe 'em whenever the artillery are reloaded."

"The enemy's aircraft may be a problem, though." Lieutenant Nyberg was starting to get a little worried. "How the devil do they have so many bombers left after all this fighting?"

"Frosty's snow ain't helpin us so much on that front." Nyberg had to agree with Grit's assessment this time; General Olaf had brought along more anti-air groups than missile launchers, so Orange Star's bombers were evenly matched against the anti-air. In this blizzard, the Fort Halberd airbase was too far from the front lines, so their air support was limited to the few copters already in the air.

"I thought you said their morale would crumble after seeing the walls go down..." Nyberg muttered.

"Guess I was wrong this time," Grit said. "The Bowlies have just as much heart when it comes to defending their homeland, it seems."

Grit paused. "Though it really is a little peculiar that they sent troops right out into the artillery's jaws. Nell wouldn't stand for that if she was there."

"Why not? That's how we'd do it, isn't it?"

"Not how I'd do it, though you're right; if this was our capital, Frosty wouldn't have to ask too hard." Grit looked up at the machinery above him. "Maybe they know how we're stretchin' ourselves thin right now."

"What do you mean?" That was the first Lieutenant Nyberg had heard of that.

"They've got guerrillas all over the dang country. Been makin' some of our regional officers look like fools. And now Frosty gets 'head of himself and starts the war on the mainland too?" Grit shook his head. "Don't bode well."

"But this battle's still ours, right?"

"The battle's still ours, but we have to make sure they don't make it too bloody for us. After all, we've got the after-stuff to think of, too. The Bowlies still have Falcon Island and half of Alara, and from what I hear, Falcon Island still has half their Cosmo navy and tons o' planes."

Nyberg looked back at the strategic overview. "So we hold here and wait for them to die?"

"Kinda. Gotta make sure the rockets stay safe, though. I'll be countin' on you to warn me if somethin' happens with that."

Counting on me. He hadn't known how much he'd been waiting for those words until now. "Yes, Colonel."

"Colonel Grit," came the drawled response.

10:03 PM

Nell landed on the very edge of the ice platform, then dived forwards to evade Olaf's strike. His eyes were on her revolver; good. As the crystal axe sliced the air where she had been, Nell pulled her left hand from her coat, now grasping a seven-inch combat knife, and struck at her enemy's side, slicing through his coat and B-field into his flesh.

Olaf roared and kicked at her with his wounded leg, the pain numbed by the cold and the outflowing blood blocked by a layer of ice. A knife of ice was on the tip of his boot; through her luck, the ice sheet tilted, sending her stumbling a couple steps out of the way and leaving Olaf staggering to the side.

Nell stepped forward and aimed her revolver. This time, Olaf reached out under the gun with the long handle of his axe, then jerked the handle upwards as she fired, sending her shot awry. Nell managed to hold onto the gun, but fell a couple steps back. She felt nothing beneath, and corrected her weight balance just in time; she was right at the edge of the ice sheet.

An alarm sounded in her mind, and she stepped forward; the edge of the ice sheet crumbled behind her. Olaf was swinging the axe again, and she dodged away from it; however, this time his strike followed through into the ice sheet, cutting the piece of the platform that she stood on away from the main sheet.

Without Olaf's power running through it, her piece of the platform would fall into the avalanche. Nell fired off her revolver at Olaf, but didn't wait to see the results. A glance around told her everything she needed to know; the avalanche was slowing down, but not enough that it would be safe to dive into. Parts of the ice were hardening, but still consisted of smaller, sharper chunks submerged in a powdery wave of snow, and there were the metal scraps to think of as well; many wrecked cars had been sucked in by the wave. If she fell in, it was likely she'd fall through and be slashed up by the shards.

Its path had taken them towards the wrecked mall, which was now less than half a kilometer away. They would both go tumbling into the mall's central pit if they didn't get off the traveling mass within a minute.

This was bad, but she was out of options. She had to get onto Olaf's platform and knock her enemy off it. Nell focused the Break energy into the best omen she could; this would take a lot of luck to work.

She jumped off the ice platform towards Olaf's foothold, firing her revolver's last bullet as she went. The bullet struck Olaf in the side, like the last one had, but he barely even seemed to notice, even using the momentum from the shot's impact to speed up his swing of the axe, timed to cut her in half once she reached his platform. Nell twisted in midair to avoid it, while throwing her knife towards Olaf's hand.

And then she was knocked backwards, and felt a sharp pain cut through her belly and side. She gasped for breath, and that intake brought with it a second wave of pain from her left ribcage. She fell, her back smacking into a solid surface.

Stand. She had to stand. This couldn't be happening. What was going on? How had she been cut?

Nothing foreign seemed to be in her wound despite its size, so she focused Break on it, stopping the bleeding, closing it tight, and blocking off the pain. She rolled to her front, then pulled herself up to her knees.

Still hurt to breathe.

The avalanche had hardened into an iceberg, though it was still sliding; that must mean Olaf had lost the ice sheet he had been riding. Scraps of metal stuck out at various places, so her luck must have made sure that she hadn't fallen on one of those.

To the left, she saw Olaf's battleaxe, and understood; he had thrown it at her, almost point-blank. Luck couldn't save her from that, but it did make sure it cut her side and not right down the center of her ribcage. A heart wound would be hard for even a Breakcom to survive.

Ahead, she saw Olaf on the ground, struggling to stand. Due to the throw, her knife had missed Olaf's hand, but had hit an even better target; his already-wounded thigh. Her foe had lost balance, fallen off the ice sheet or broken it apart, and reacted on instinct as he hit the ice to prevent himself from being cut up.

Olaf had to be reaching his limit, with multiple wounds and the amount of power he'd used throughout the fight. She had to press the advantage now, despite her wound, but she wasn't sure she could do much at close range in her current state. Too much motion could rip that wound open again, and she couldn't afford to reapply the Break patch in the middle of the fight.

There was her revolver less than a meter away, to her right. However, it was out of bullets.

She grabbed the revolver, released the cylinder catch, and pushed out the cylinder, exposing the spent rounds. Olaf was still struggling to stand. Hold revolver vertical, push down ejector rod to unload the casings. Olaf glared up at her, and fired a wave of air and ice over a meter high from his palm.

The wave picked up a few scraps and smacked into Nell's face and body, but her grip on the gun didn't let up. A pain wracked her left arm; a shard of metal had sliced up the arm, leaving a scratch that she didn't bother looking at. As if that was going to stop her.

Squeezing the wound with Break, she moved the gun to her left hand, held it downwards, and removed a speedloader from her coat. The pain was nothing. She placed it over the revolver, turned the knob, and watched the rounds slide in. Really, the pain was nothing.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Olaf reaching out, an expression of pure rage and hatred across his face. Another wave of ice and steel smashed into her, but this time, nothing stuck.

Close the cylinder.

A chunk of ice the size of an ostrich hit the ice nearby her; another smashed into her face, knocking her back a little and bruising her even through her fading B-field. Tens, perhaps hundreds more were coming towards her. The world seemed to spin around her. All of it was irrelevant. All that mattered was the bastard that was slowly coming into her sights as her revolver arm rose.

"NELLLLLLLLLLLLLL!" Her enemy's scream of rage didn't even contain despair. How disappointing.

She knew she would hit. Nell waited for a flying chunk of ice to pass...

...and then, her finger squeezed the trigger. Without stopping to see what damage she did, she realigned her sights with Olaf's flopping body and fired again. And again. And again.

Before she could empty the last two shots into her enemy, the ground fell away and she tumbled into the dark abyss, giant chunks of ice and steel falling after her.

"Well, what do you know. The duel's finished." Grit's words turned the heads of every officer in the room, causing them to stare at one particular satellite's feed on their consoles – a satellite whose camera target had not changed since the battle began.

"I don't see either of them..." Nyberg muttered. All that the feed showed was a giant mass of snow and ice sliding down the parking lot, its foremost chunks breaking off and falling into the pit formed by the mall rotunda.

"Both of 'em were on the front of that thing when it went down," Grit explained. "Neither looked well. I reckon we ought to seize that site so we can get Frosty out safely."

"Thanks to the Bowlheads' advance..." Nyberg muttered. "That area's within their control zone."

"Sounds like we have to change that." Through the Comnet, Nyberg heard new orders given to the soldiers near that site. It seemed like a new hotspot had opened up in the battle for Jefferson City.