Well Played

Kayed and León stood before a child of Atlas, claiming to be Luxaico, the 119th Prince. After returning a few volleys at each other, Sarah buzzed in, filling them in on the situation.

"Sounds like it's the same for everyone else. We'll have to figure a way out of this quickly." León said, as he carefully analyzed the situation.

"That's right," Kayed replied, he was half listening trying to predict Luxaico's next move. Luxaico was quick and the Novas were both earth wielders, it wasn't that good of a matchup for them. "Stand back a little." He asked Leon.

León did as he was told, standing back as Kayed shifted into first gear and drew out an orb of lava, a few meters from him then cooled it down to magma. "Erupt: Warrior." It shaped into a sleek athletic clone of himself. Then, came to life, copying his exact fighting stance, while Kayed made gloves, out of magma to protect his hands. León raised a stone armour over his body, just to be safe.

Luxaico smiled. "I agree if you weren't doing at least that much, I'm afraid this was going to be rather quick."

In a blur, Luxaico appeared, clad in electricity and about to dropkick León faster than he could react. However, moving with frightening speed, Kayed's golem made it just in time, sending Luxaico flying. It followed on after him, as Kayed and León hopped onto floating platforms and trailed behind them.

Each time Luxaico struck at the golem, its body would burn his hand and morph back. Then, it would return multiple strikes of its own. They tumbled together while destroying several parts of the castle city.

Kayed's breathing started to get heavy, and his strength drained away, as he maintained the warrior. They watched as Luxaico took to the sky, trying to blast it out of existence, as it continued to chase him, however Kayed dissipated it before it got hit.

Luxaico floated furiously in the air. His body was working overtime to regenerate the majority of the burn marks, he received. "You'll pay for that!" He yelled at them.

León stopped his hands from shaking, resolving himself more to help rather than to fear. He knew Kayed was getting tired and couldn't last for much longer. He shook his head, then raised hundreds of volleys around him and unsheathed his sword.

Kayed spoke up, noticing Leon's change in demeanour. "I'll need your help to distract him, we need to hold him in place for 10 seconds."

León nodded. "Sounds good."

The Nova continued launching projectiles at Luxaico while the prince zipped through the sky, racing towards them. He put his hands out, releasing a wave of electricity, beaming towards them.

Together, they raised, stone barriers, to block it, resulting in an explosion of dust and smoke, clouding their vision. Then in a blur, Luxaico appeared behind León and kicked him out of the sky. Kayed called out after León, then turned his eyes towards the prince.

"Now I can deal with you alone." He laughed, then lunged at Kayed, with greater speed, than he had shown before.

The Nova barely managed to block his strikes and was having a hard time keeping up with the prince's movements. Then Luxaico struck himself with lightning and intensified the beatdown he was giving him.

Kayed descended rapidly to the ground, suffering some fractured bones, as Luxaico persisted after him. He looked up gritting his teeth and summoned several pillars of lava grabbing for Luxaico. However, the prince dodged them and psychotically flew down the middle, punching Kayed hard into the ground and causing tremors across the city.

Kayed coughed blood while redirecting the lava away from him as Luxaico flew back up to the sky. Kayed got up, knees first. His arms were both broken from blocking his strike. He knew he could no longer reach for a booster.

The Nova looked up, feeling a massive amount of energy, accumulating above him. Luxaico amassed together, hundreds of millions of volts, all in a condensed, large electric ball hovering in front of his hand.

Instinctively Kayed pulled together dirt and clay to control his arms & hands then grimaced, as he drew out the last of his energy. 'It was going to take too long... I don't have enough time...' He panicked, trying to think of a way out of his situation.

Luxaico looked down seeing him struggle and laughed. "How pointless! I'm sending you to oblivion!" Then he dropped his hands, signalling the descent of his sphere of destruction, however, it detonated with him as a large premade golem, leaped up silently and grabbed him in midair, with massive steel hands crushing him.

Kayed looked to his right, wondering where that came from. On top of a roof, León stood, bloody and broken, but still willing to fight. Kayed smiled, he couldn't lose now. Streaks of silver started popping up in his hair, while his eyes glowed hazel.

His headache skyrocketed, but he bared it as the ball of lava rotated at Mach speed, burning the sphere almost white hot. "Erupt: Burkania!" He yelled letting it go, and shooting it at the giant hands, just as Luxaico exploded them off him, by summoning a lightning strike.

He looked down too late, as the lava engulfed him, incinerating him whole, before he could speak. Kayed and León raised fists of victory to each other, then fell over, laughing.

At Haylon's castle...

Tobi had been trying to escape, to help Norah and Nur, but the brothers wouldn't let him go. Each, blocked his exit over time, as he tried to leave.

He sighed. "Fine then, I'll eliminate you both first." He conceded, then shifted into first gear. Cladding himself in electricity and flames reinforcing the armour of stone, he protected himself with.

The brothers looked at him, with wonder, acknowledging the intel they had heard. "Finally trying to get serious are you?" Haylon asked.

"Yeah, but you won't be able to keep up with me anymore," Tobi replied.

"What-" Haylon, barely got a word out, before Tobi like lightning, punched him through the castle walls.

He looked at Tamorn who was unable to react. Just trembling, as he raised a stone golem and charged it at Tobi. However, with ease, he sidestepped and cut it in half, then zipped forward and lopped the prince's head off, in one swift motion.

Haylon came out of nowhere clad in lightning and began striking away at him as fast as he possibly could. Yet despite all his efforts, Tobi managed to block them all with ease and slowly raised his left hand with a white-hot, electric, flaming ball.

"Ignite: Static Sphere." He said, as he broke an opening through the clashes and pushed the ball into Haylon's gut. Blowing him up and sending him flying into the ceiling with millions of volts paralyzing him. Tamorn's body had just attached his head back on.

"Brother he's too strong. I don't want to die." Tamorn called out, without looking away from Tobi.

"Shut up. I know, we're going to have to use it after all. Come to me. I can't move." Haylon replied angrily.

Without hesitating, Tobi began preparing a ball of fire, between both of his hands. He was unsure what they were trying to do but he wasn't going to give them the chance.

Tamorn got to his brother and allowed Haylon to reach up into his chest, as a fist-sized hole opened up for him. The prince pulled out a tiny ball, with circuits lighting up and zipped all over it, then swallowed it whole, as Tamorn's body fell over.

Tobi was shocked he didn't understand what was happening, but he didn't want to find out. "Ignite: Static Cannon!"

The beam of fire raced at the both of them, exploding a massive hole through the walls and out into the horizon, as the castle started to shake and break apart. Tobi noticed his breathing becoming heavier, as he tried to read any residual life signatures. He felt nothing.

Then he took a deep breath, relieved, then stopped, as he felt a tremendous amount of energy emanating out of a new individual to his right. Sending chills down his spine.

The man was holding Tamorn's body in one of his arms. He looked like Haylon but had magma-marked veins, running all over his body. Even streaks of silver complemented his long black hair, along with a face that seemed like a hybrid between the brothers' faces.

"What are you?" Tobi asked, trying to contain his anxiety.

The man replied, as his voice delivered in a dual tone. "I am the combination of Tamorn and Haylon. You may call me Hamorn. Rejoice, your death is here."

Near Catoria's Castle...

Norah summoned a massive lightning strike. Striking herself and maintaining the charge within her body, while Nur hopped onto a platform of ice and kept some distance from the rampant energy around her. She maintained the ice armor on Norah, as best as she could, while it kept melting away from the heat.

"Static: Berserker!" Norah yelled as she leaped at Catoria.

Both immediately set out on a violent exchange of strikes and kicks at each other. Each strike Norah received, resounded and travelled through her entire body, shaking her bones, however, she didn't let up.

Catoria blasted her back, with a fist full of blue flames, unfazed by any of Norah's attacks and stumbled the Nova back, along with her arms burned. Nur rushed to treat them right away, while distracting Catoria, with volleys of ice.

All melting meters from the princess, as she began to gather energy. Causing her body to steam, and emanating rings of fire, crushing the ground. Then she leaped at Norah, feinting a punch as Norah raised her arms to block.

Instead, she grabbed Norah, by the waist, burning her as she gripped her tight and rocketed into the sky. Norah struggled to get free, shocking her full of electricity and blasting her point blank.

However, Catoria threw Norah up above her and started striking her, higher into the sky. She let Norah freefall for a bit, as the Nova, tried to catch her breath, then reappeared above her in a blur. Smashing her down with her hands locked together.

Norah crashed down to the ground, creating a large crater, as tremors, rippled across the land. Nur watched horrified and hurried to treat her, as Catoria descended, floating above them.

Norah coughed up blood. Her bones were broken and she knew she had some internal bleeding, as it was difficult to stay conscious. Nur started to panic, seeing how Norah's injuries were way beyond her capabilities. She looked back up at Catoria.

"I've got a lot of things to do. So I'm going to end this quickly. Thanks for helping me stretch a bit." A large, blue flaming ball of fire sparked to life above her palm. Then she pointed it at them, condensing it further. "Goodbye now."

Norah looked up, with her vision blurred. She recognized the attack oncoming as certain death and wished she could stop it, but she could barely move her body. She looked over at Nur, trembling and scared out of her mind. "Listen to me Nur, you have to run for it. Leave me, go to the Prometheus or Tobi. Just get as far away from here, as soon as possible.

Nur ripped her eyes away, from the burning inferno and glanced back at Norah. "I can't... I can't leave you."

Norah smiled. "You're strong Nur, one day you'll be one of the greatest heroes ever. Don't waste your life here."

Nur looked into Norah's eyes, immediately feeling ashamed at the thought. She knew they were the eyes of someone who had accepted death.

How could she, dare to leave her friend here? She remembered Norah's words at the beginning of the fight. 'To do something while she still could.' She knew she would regret it if she left Norah and ran.

Anger started to course through her, overtaking her fear. Why couldn't they go back home together? Why has this child of Atlas, caused her friend, so much pain? Thousands of thoughts ran through her mind at that moment.

She glared, back up at Catoria who had just released the devastating attack towards them.

Nur made up her mind. "No! If I had to leave you here... I would never forgive myself!" She yelled while maintaining one hand healing Norah and the other pointing up towards the attack. "Frost: Ranikot Fort!"

A massive ice fortress, manifested around them, layered with hundreds of layers of ice, just in time as the sphere struck it with incredible force. Riddling the new fortress with cracks all over and began melting through it.

Yet, Nur continued to fight on, as she held her hands up, forcing all of her energy within her, out to protect them. The air temperature started to drop rapidly, as mist escaped with each breath, she took. A myriad of turquoise veins raced all over her body, flickering a dim glow.

She willed the ball to stop, as the fortress shook, like it was in the middle of an earthquake. However, the burning sphere had almost broken through, with Catoria smiling and giving it one more push, to end them once and for all.

Nur yelled out once more, adding dozens of more layers of ice, below and freezing the area around it colder. After a moment, it suddenly stopped descending and froze, half broken through. Relieved, she struggled to regain her breath and then redirected the rest of her energy into healing Norah, while maintaining the first gear. "I'm not going to let you die, but I can't beat her alone. Please help me, Norah." She begged in tears.

Norah watched the whole effort in amazement. With Nur's help, she slowly got back up. "You did great. That strength, you've always had it in you... I can't be lying down when you're still fighting... We can still finish this, but I'll need your help." Norah said, giving her a proud smile.

Nur took a medicine booster in her belt and plunged it into Norah's arm, as Catoria descended, surprised that they were able to stop her attack. "Good effort in delaying the inevitable... If it took all you had to stop the first one... Then what will you do about the second one?" On queue, she raised her right hand once more, creating a blue sphere of fire even bigger than the last, and rotating at incredible speed.

The heat razed the ground as Norah and Nur braced themselves from the hot winds, while the fortress melted apart. "Nur, stand back."

Nur did as she was told, then frosted Norah's arms and controlled them to do as Norah wished. Her hands parted some distance as a rotating electric ball formed, rotating faster than the speed of sound.

The darkest clouds gathered, shocking her with more lightning than she had ever accumulated before in her life. She almost fell over, as her vision began to blur, but she caught herself, gritting her teeth, and refocused on the enemy in front of her.

Streams of electricity, rotated around her, violently ripping up the ground, while Nur struggled to keep up with Norah's injuries. The blue marks around her body, flickered back glowing a dim cobalt blue. Her eyes seemed to glow as well, with streaks of silver, evenly racing down her hair.

Norah glared back up at Catoria, who watched, interested in their futile attempt. However, she began to feel the enormous amount of energy Norah was outputting and poured a bit more into her final attack, pointing it back down on them as fast as she could. "Die already! Midnight's Star!

The sphere dropped at a frightening speed, as Norah thrust her hand forward, facing the incoming attack and Catoria. "It's time to send you back, where you belong!" She yelled, then released her attack, cracking a sphere open. "Converge: Saeiqa!"

The electric beam raced forth colliding with the ball of fire, for a moment, then ate it up, blowing the sphere up in a massive explosion and engulfing Catoria as she resisted, by exploding a flame barrier to keep herself from being incinerated. "I can't die. I can't die. There is no way I can be defeated by insects!" She screamed out while fighting for her life.

Norah was starting to burn up, with her hands shaking profoundly, but Nur held them up, steady with ice, and continued to treat her, to the best of her ability. Then she reached her hand up and began freezing the flame barrier, weakening it. While, allowing the beam to shatter through and reach Catoria, incinerating her whole, as she let out a gut-wrenching scream.

Norah dropped to her knees, suffering from a violent seizure, while smoke trailed out of her mouth and her transformation flickered off. There was a pungent smell of burnt electricity and flesh in the air.

Nur ran to her, and injected one more booster into her, then continued healing her comerade. The Nova was already unconscious. "We did it, Norah! You really are... amazing you know that." She grinned, as Norah slept on, with a faint smile.