Execution Hall (Morning)
With his eye burning red, Russo's blood boiled in his veins. He remained still for a minute while his body adjusted to the change. "Yararara! It's been a while since I've been able to use my Semblance! I had a feeling that using it at school wouldn't have ended well!"
Russo's Semblance allowed him to drastically raise his internal temperature. Since his body was conditioned to be active when exposed to intense heat, this ability made him even more vicious in combat. His attacks got faster, his flames got hotter, and the heat made his Dust explosions even more volatile than before. The shift didn't last long, and he usually passed out when it was over, but he didn't need that much time to do what needed to be done.
"I wonder, do you regret anything you've done?" Russo asked, grinning. "Oh, who am I kidding!? You don't have any feelings, do you?!"
The blonde laughed maniacally, then ran at Raven faster than her eyes could see. With all the strength he could muster, he swung his weapon at the bandit, creating an explosion with more force than a volcanic eruption. The woman transformed into her bird form, flying out of the devastating attack's way.
"You're quick, but let's see how you deal with this!" Russo said, silently shocked by his opponent's feathery change.
Raising his free arm, Russo summoned a small, yet dense, fireball. As soon as he loosened his grip on the sphere of energy, it shot out of his hand like a bullet. It managed to pierce Raven's wing, forcing her to land and turn back into a human. Looking down on herself, she found a small wound in her midsection. Thankfully for her, it didn't hit any vital organs. Knowing she couldn't escape; Raven turned back to Russo and gripped her weapon.
Raven coated her weapon in Ice Dust, then slashed at her opponent, creating a cyan beam of energy that struck the boy. The impact froze him in a block of ice. This attempt at stopping him was useless, however, as he simply melted through it. Russo then punched the ground, causing waves of red energy to seep into the stone below. As they tore through the soil, stone shards came up just behind Raven and sharpened into needles before lunging at her. The Branwen was able to avoid the worst of it, but her back was grazed by one of the needles.
'What kind monster is he?' Raven thought to herself, feeling a tingling pain in her spine.
Tired of being made a fool of, Raven turned into a bird and flew upwards before nosediving at Russo. She transformed back into a human just in time to stab her weapon into his chest. "Sorry, but I can't afford to hold back." she said, her expression hidden by her mask. Shockingly, at least to her, Russo began laughing hysterically from the pain. He tore Raven's sword from his body, making magma bleed from his wound. Taken off-guard by this, the woman failed to dodge the swing of his blade in time. It struck her Aura, cracking it. Spitting up blood from the blow, Raven fell to the ground as her assailant smiled.
"Oh, did you actually think you were fighting a normal human?" Russo asked, glaring down at his target. The look on her face was priceless. "No, of course you wouldn't know anything about me! Yarararara!"
He punched the ground again with a crazed laugh, creating spikes of rock that would've torn Raven apart if she hadn't rolled out of the way. Trying the attack again, Russo sliced through the spikes with Vesuvius, reducing them to tiny shards. His eye flashed red as the shards levitated and shot at Raven. The woman retrieved her sword and tried defending herself with it, managing to successfully evade 12 of the shards. Unfortunately, the other 18 met their mark, detonating every time they hit her Aura.
Russo approached slowly, raising his weapon to his side. It, along with the ground below him, glowed a deep red as the terrain melted under his feet. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this moment!" he said, smiling ear to ear. "Now, to finally end this!" Raising his sword high above his head, the blonde opened the blade and prepared for his strongest explosion yet.
The blonde slammed the weapon into the terrain as soon as the final conduit was armed. The explosion was so powerful, it made cracks in the tunnel's walls, floor, and ceiling. The cracks glowed crimson before detonating, annihilating everything in a mile radius, forming a gigantic crater that exposed the tunnel to the outside world. Once the smoke cleared, Russo looked around for Raven's body.
However, he found nothing. After a few moments of thinking, he realized his mistake. While he was arming his weapon, Raven must've taken the chance to portal away. "Cagna intelligente." he said to himself as his Semblance wore off. "Segna le mie parole. Ti troverò. Anche se devo bruciare tutto Remnant."
With no more energy, the boy fell on his face.
"I'm sure Welter and the others can handle themselves for a few minutes without me." he said, muffled by the ground.
