Smoke and Dust

As I stood, watching my lifespan shorten by half a century, my eyes were refocusing on everything all at once, trying to understand everything, including the setting, through the smoke and dust.

My ears were ringing, and the vision in my right eye was almost missing as I ripped a piece of shrapnel out of it. I was the weakest I had ever been, slowly trying to stabilize myself while I stared at Cole's limp body.

It slowly started to snap into place. The joints blown off of him put themselves back together, snapping into the elbow, the shoulder, and the knees.

His scorched chest stood the same, and parts of him wouldn't regenerate... it even surprised Cole as he started to slap his body.

His head slowly reformed itself, placing itself on top of his body. He cracked it a few times and then crossed his arms while staring at me.

"And here we are... it's amazing, how screwed you are. I've never met somebody so eager on killing themselves, not like you, Sky," Cole told me.

He threw The Retriever right at my chest. It was a simple dodge... but in all of my fatigue, my body wouldn't move, and I took the hit directly. It intersected through the middle of my sternum and almost expanded so far that it popped my heart.

"That's right... stand there... and give yourself up... as long as you're willing to give me your body, it will be painless for you. Although, I can't promise the same for your friends," Cole told me.

Scraps from the buildings were still falling down to the floor, and a piece of cement fell between us. I felt my mindset slowly plummet further as I stared at Cole, but when that piece of cement fell between us and he was the only one to flinch in surprise, I felt myself get more confident, just over something that small.

A few seconds went by when the cement dropped, and I watched Cole's eyes flicker as the Eye of Providence turned off.

The very moment that his eyes turned back to their normal color, Avie's foot struck him in his charred chest.

Pieces of flesh tore off as he was launched backward and the smoke all blew away from our position. It was almost completely clear at that point.

Cole hit the floor, bouncing a few times, but Avie didn't let up. She kicked him further into the ground every time he tried to get back up until he was launched back over to me.

I summoned a saber and cut him in half with all of my strength, falling to the ground after the saber went through him. I coughed up more blood, watching the time slowly tick up.

[Lifespan Reduction: 50.5 Years]

Even small movements with my own body were ticking up the time now. I figured I was at my absolute limit... but Cole wasn't stopping for anything... not even a half of a century's worth of strength amassed into one fight.

While I was crouched down, trying to push my body back up, I saw shoes approach from my right side, and then one kick back.

It kicked me straight in the face, causing me to stumble back down to my butt before being able to process who it was.

Cole... he had tricked Avie with an illusion and had come to finish me off.

He kicked me while I was down, picking me up by my shirt's collar, and then slammed his elbow into my chest. He broke my ribs and crashed me into the ground, causing me to spit up more blood while I tried to regenerate.

"Give me my body back," Cole told me.

He picked me up again and threw me into the ground nearby, however this time, my shirt ripped as I felt my forearm snap in half from the force.

Strands were no longer regenerating my clothing... I just couldn't put up a fight anymore. It wasn't the fact that I was afraid to lose more of my lifespan, it was my muscles being unable to move naturally. I would have to put unnatural pressure on myself that would mess up my balance, and eventually ruin me even further.

I am Sky Asterio... I need to pick myself back up...

As I slid down the side of the upturned ground, Cole kicked me through the chunk of dirt, causing me to stumble even further down a slope I created.

"Wonder what Domin would think of his fearless leader. Maybe it should've been you to die," Cole said to me while walking closer to me.

Domin...

I started to push strands throughout my hands, wiring the ground to attempt to trap Cole by leaving a small tripwire in front of him.

As I slowly crawled backward to mislead him, Cole approached my trap and fell victim to the tripwire.

He tripped right beside me, and using all power available in my body, I slammed my left hand into his skull, caving in his forehead and breaking my other arm in the process.

Where is Avie... I need her...

Cole took five seconds to regenerate himself as I tried to crawl away further, looking for Avie to help me.

"Don't your people from the past have something they want to say to you, for how weak you turned out to be in the end? Yeah, it sucks, doesn't it, Sky Asterio? When your opponent is so juiced up on strands that they win automatically, every single time... now, it's you who doesn't stand a fair chance, because every time somebody bests you with their own physical strength, it's your strands that pull you through, its something you've been hiding that comes through... but now, you've hit the bottom of the barrel," Cole told me.

He grabbed my ankles, picked me up over his head, and slammed me into the ground right over him. I sat, clutching my stomach with my broken arms, and trying to cover myself from any further damage.

"The absolute worst. You are a piece of shit for the things you've done... I would be avenging your opponents by putting your endless luck into the dirt right now. Guess what? It's perfect because all I have to do is put you six feet into the ground to end your life. And then, it'll be over... the world may heal, now that Sky Asterio is gone," Cole told me.