7 --- 2

The fight with Ronda was going to be tough and Nate knew it. He was injured and unarmed, Ronda on the other hand looked in perfect fighting condition with two razor-sharp short swords. If he was going to win this, he had to fight smarter.

Ronda however, didn't let him think of a plan, she ran straight at him. Nate flew into the air before she reached him, he didn't need to look behind to know she followed him.

Nate flew northward, leading her away from Anna and the rest. A beam suddenly fizzed past him; he looked back at Ronda with widened eyes. She was firing concentrated beams at him while flying. If one of those hit him, he was good as dead.

He started to fly in a zigzag motion to avoid the beams. What happened next was unexpected, a ball of energy sailed past him but instead of going far beyond him. It stopped right in of him, Nate tried to halt his flight but he was too late. The ball exploded and knocked him out of the air.

He opened his mouth but no sound came out as he fell to the ground. Pain filled his body once he hit the floor. He didn't have time to check his body for broken bones as he rolled to his side.

There was a frightening thump on the floor where he had just been as Ronda swords hit the ground. Nate hastily stood to face her, then he noticed they were still far from the ground on a large rooftop. That must explain why he had survived the fall.

Ronda charged at him again, Nate summoned a shield but instead of waiting for her to reach it, he pushed it straight at her. The shield knocked her off her vote. Nate didn't let her go as he kicked her in the stomach, she grunted and rolled to the edge of the roof.

Nate fired a beam at her but she somersaulted away and threw something at him, Nate sensed it too late and the knife embedded itself into his shoulder. He gasped in surprise. Nate summoned a shield but she cut through it easily and swung one of the swords towards his head, Nate caught it with his hand and hissed in pain as the sharp edge cut through his palm. She swung the other sword but Nate didn't let it reach him. He focused his will into his eyes and blasted her away from him, leaving her sword in his hand.

Nate painfully extracted the dagger from his shoulder and threw it back at her but she expertly dodged it and got to her feet. Nate held up her sword in his bloodied palm.

She snarled at him, a cut had opened on her cheek and small rivulets of blood dripped to her chin. She looked scary with the fury on her face.

Their charged at each other and their swords clashed heavily. As they began to slash, parry and dodge. Both of them were trying to find an opening to hurt each other. Ronda found it first; she spun away from Nate's swipe at her neck and slashed his side. Nate gave a loud groan as he clutched his side, the cut wasn't too deep but bled nonetheless. That was when he realized his predicament. He had a bleeding shoulder and a scorched back with a new cut to the side, he was in no way to he could beat Ronda in sword fighting which seemed to be her expertise.

He dodged another slash to the head and moved away from her, he began to fire beams at her but Ronda started flipping acrobatically in the air dodging all the beams, leaving Nate frustrated and running low on energy.

She suddenly crouched and extended an energy whip and slashed Nate at the ankles. The pain was instant; he fell to his knees, howling in pain. Ronda lunged herself in the air and brought the whip towards him. He instinctively projected a shield and both energies canceled each other. Ronda however was still coming down heavily with her sword. Nate brought up his sword to block. Their swords clashed and knocked him further down into the concrete. Nate gripped the sword with both hands and tried to push her off with the sword but he failed to see what was in her second hand.

Ronda plunged a knife straight into his thigh. Nate screamed and punched her chest with a glowing fist, throwing her off him.

Nate removed the knife with another scream. He was in no condition to fight and if this went on, He would be dead; Victor would capture Anna and the rest and go on with his plan.

He could not fail, he had to win. He struggled to his feet. Ronda eyed his injuries and flashed him a vicious smile. She knew it was a matter of time before she finished him off.

Her eyes glowed bright and charged in what could be her final strike, Nate didn't even have enough energy to summon a shield, he feebly brought up his sword but Ronda swung hard and wrenched it away from his grasp. She slashed at his chest but Nate grabbed her hand and flipped him over his shoulder. The maneuver hurt him than her but it brought it closer to his goal. Nate grabbed her long leather coat and summoned fire, the coat exploded in flames.

Ronda yelped and hastily wrenched off the coat. In her moment of panic, Nate ran at her and wrapped his hand around her waist, with all his remaining strength. He pushed both of them to the edge of the roof. Ronda screamed loudly as they both went hurtling to the round.

They crashed heavily on top of a car, glass exploded and the roof compressed but Ronda, who was under him got the worst of it. Nate didn't waste any second, he snatched the sword from her weak fingers and plunged it right into her heart.

She gave a small croak and Nate watched as life slowly slipped from her body. She was dead. A flurry of feelings went through Nate's mind.

It felt wrong, it felt necessary, and it felt familiar. He had done this before, he had killed before.