Stand Down

The air seemed to vibrate at regular intervals, bursts of golden lights emanating with every thundering sound. Then darkness, then the golden flashes again. 

The sequence repeated, shuddering the walls and the ground of The Source. Nate was giving Vanessa absolutely no chance.

The once-smug, sassy, proud, and bossy face of Vanessa was now battered, bruised, swollen, and scarred, with a faint hint of desperation and vulnerability peeking through the cracks of her tattered hair as Nate pounded her to mash, flinging and tossing her body around the large space of darkness.

He gave her no chance to react; exploding out of nowhere, he was now destroying the face of his fellow golden-ranked academic, denying her any opportunity to defend herself or speak. Vanessa was unable to utter a single word, all her senses down and damaged as Nate had severely disfigured her face and now it resembled a rumpled map.