Zeb leapt into a portal, reappearing above Halford and kicking him in the side of the head. As Halford staggered back, Zeb landed a foot into his stomach, causing him to fall into a purple portal behind him. She crunched her hand into a fist, and a muffled explosion rang through her ears, followed by Halford shooting out, a circular white barrier covering him. It rolled across the ground for a few seconds, before abruptly stopping with him on his feet. He kept up the barrier as he approached her, and she silently surrounded him with portals, jumping into one, running between them, occasionally landing punches on the barrier, sometimes just running past him. Halford looked around him, looking for where she would strike, before feeling the distinct feel of a fist inside his jaw. He spun around, and Zeb was inside the barrier with him, throwing punch after punch. He reeled back for a second, unable to keep up the barrier, lurching forward while Zeb charged up a final shot of energy.

Which was just what he wanted.

He drunkenly grabbed her by the hand she was charging and moved her palm towards the sky, the plasma energy shooting upwards in a brilliant display. Halford had to activate a shield to prevent any energy leaking onto them. And when it was over, Zeb felt drained. She could barely move. The inside of her body felt dry, like her blood was somehow dehydrated. Halford casually pushed her over, and she fell to the ground on her back. She was already out. Good luck the rest of you.

Ulrich charged the index, middle and ring finger from his left hand into a shot against Vivian, which she dodged almost effortlessly. She shot a few ice shots at him, which he tried his best to dodge, but one managed to graze him, and the searing cold hit him all at once, hitting the entire left side of his body. He tried stepping forward, but even that caused that to strike his brain, giving him a brain freeze from hell. He still had his right side, so he charged up an attack using his index finger, firing it at her. She summoned a block of ice in front of her thick enough to shield the blast. She crouched down, a small stream of ice slipping from her fingers. Ulrich found himself slipping on the new ice, about to fall backwards. He caught Vivian appear out of the corner of his eye, and felt a punch into his stomach, and was sent through the air. He thrust his hand back trying to catch himself on the sand, but all he got was his right hand flaring up with heat. He aimed his hand, propelling himself towards Vivian at a speed he wasn't even aware of. But just as she put a hand up to stop him, he managed to land a foot into her head. He ended up flipping upside down, and before she could do anything, he charged what energy remained in his right hand, shooting it at her face just as she turned around to face him again. He fell down on his neck, luckily not breaking anything, while Vivian fell back.

Vivian got up, feeling a burning sensation on the left side of her face. She put a hand to the pain feeling several cracks in her formally pristine skin. She summoned a thin wall of ice to see her reflection, and that's when she noticed the scarring. A distinct red burn mark all over the left side of her face. She dropped the ice, and it shattered, and the only thing she could look at was Ulrich.

"You…what did you DO to me?" She screamed.

Ulrich stepped back, and Vivian leapt at him. She placed her hands on the ground, and Ulrich was greeted by several icicles surrounding him, and Vivian appeared out of a light stream, trying to punch him with ice covered fists, which he managed to block, barely. She shot a chunk of ice at his face, which he thought he dodged, before feeling blood come out from the corner of his eye. The sight in his left eye was slowly draining, as he felt several cold punches from Vivian. She kept going until Ulrich fell to the ground.

"No killing. You're lucky I agreed to that." Vivian muttered to his barely conscious body, before pinning him to her iceberg with another iceberg, and warping out.

Meanwhile, Dominic and Bartholomew were exchanging blows. Bartholomew was obviously winning, what with his years of experience in proper fighting techniques compared to a guy with an axe copying anime moves. Dominic would throw out a sloppily prepared axe swing, and Bartholomew would counter that with a punch to his stomach, causing him to fall to the ground. Bartholomew actually started counting the number of times this happened, and this occasion was currently number six.

Yet every time, we would get back up like nothing happened, picking up the axe and trying to land a hit. Except when Dominic stood up again, Ayana yelled out at him, with words that rang out to both of them.

"Hey dumbass, use your new move!"

"Oh, right." Dominic chuckled, before breaking into a cackle. "I almost forgot."

"New power?" Bartholomew asked, raising his fists to his face.

"Yeah." Dominic replied calmly, swinging his left arm with his hand on his shoulder. "Found out I can compress my joints and increase oxygen flow in my arms to hit things harder. Hurts like hell afterwards, though."

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Dominic threw his axe to the ground and started cracking his knuckles. "Brace yourself."

He leapt into action, aiming a fist directly to Bartholomew's face. Bartholomew guarded his face, bracing the energy around his fists for the impact.

And it felt completely normal.

Bartholomew looked at Dominic for a second, and Dominic quickly grabbed his shoulder and kicked him in the groin. When Dominic tried to keel over, Dominic landed a knee to his stomach, and when he fell, Dominic punched him until he heard an "I give up!" out of his opponent, and Dominic stood up and got his axe.

"That was a dirty play." Bartholomew spluttered.

"A dirty play that worked." Dominic smirked, as he noticed the wall of ice that Vivian was standing near, and his smirk was lost. He immediately started hacking away at the ice with his axe, while Vivian stood next to him.

"What are you trying, bitch?" Dominic screamed.

"Relax, he isn't dead." Vivian sighed, covering part of her face with her hand. "Just give me a minute to recover, and I'll let you join him."

Lainey's fight against Sapphire was going easier than she expected. She could hold her own, which meant that she was holding back. If she was going all out, she would have been knocked out less than ten seconds into the fight. She was throwing punches into areas of her stomach, but areas that didn't seem to hurt. Oni was also doing his part, striking her in the hopes she would just kind of give up. She didn't, naturally.

"Why are you working for him, anyway?" Lainey asked, dodging a fist to the head.

"I owe them!" Sapphire yelled back, getting past a fist swipe from Oni. She got in close, and Lainey felt the wind building up in her hand. She got Oni to block the attack, and Sapphire's fist got stuck in it's gooey mass. She tried using her powers to dislodge her hand, managing to make a small hole in Oni and let her hand escape, but just as that happened, Lainey put a hand to her face, and unleashed a soundwave just as Sapphire escaped. She fell onto the ground, getting back up without much issue. She wiped her nose with her finger, and noticed the blood coming out of it.

"So, you have powers?" Sapphire smiled.

"Soundwave control, or something." Lainey smiled back.

"Damn, you gotta show me sometime. After this, of course."

Sapphire ran up to Lainey, leaping into the air and firing a gale below her, landing in front of Lainey, and quickly throwing a punch, followed up by firing some wind shots from her fingers. Lainey tried readying a scream blast but felt a kick to her stomach before she could move her hand. She went flying in the opposite direction, landing on a cushion of air before she could hit the ground, rolling off it as Sapphire sauntered over to her, picking her up.

"Gotta say, I'm liking that new power of yours."

"Thanks." Lainey replied as Sapphire set her down next to an agitated Dominic, and Vivian popping into existence, holding Ulrich and setting him down. He managed to stand up and squint into the sky.

"He's still alive." Lainey sighed with relief

"Yeah, he better be!" Dominic screamed.

"Standing around?" Sapphire asked.

"Yeah." Vivian replied, holding the scarred part of her face in her hand. "Don't know how this turned into five one-on-ones, but I suppose we're weeding out the weaklings."

"So, who's left?"

"Me, you, and somehow this loser." Vivian said, pointing to Dominic, who flipped her off.

"Yeah? Well this loser recruited someone who's kicking your boyfriends ass!"

He pointed over to the fight between Ayana and Gene, and it clear Ayana was winning. Gene may have had the power to freeze her in time, but didn't use it much. Ayana ducked past one of beams he fired out, kicking him in the chin as she came back to face him. Gene held onto his chin for a second, allowing Ayana to land a punch to his stomach. Gene responded with by hitting her with the side of his sword, and she took the hit, only flinching slightly, then delivering a second punch to the stomach. Gene threw out a beam in the hopes of stopping her as he fell backward. She swept her leg as he fell, landing with his back on the ground. Ayana took the chance, putting her knife to Gene's neck, throwing his sword out of his reach, pinning his left arm down and putting a knee to his leg.

"You give up, right?" She asked calmly. Gene looked up, and it was nothing but contempt in Ayana's eyes. As far as he could see, she ditched her emotion, her killer instinct fully guiding her. He started breathing heavily, more and more until Ayana's eyes jolted open, and she fell off him.

Gene got up and noticed the vapour coming out of Vivian's gloved hand, her face looking petrified. Dominic looked just as horrified, running over to Ayana. Vivian slowly walked over to Gene, running her hands across his face.

"You're okay, right?" she asked, panicked. "Did she do anything to you?"

"Vivian, I'm fine." Gene assured. "Wait, what happened to your face?"

Vivian jumped at this. "Oh. Oh god, you saw it."

"Woah, relax. You look fine." Gene replied, putting his hands down to indicate lowering her voice.

"Okay, okay." Vivian sighed, lowering her voice. "So do think…I could still…fall in love?"

"I mean, probably. A show about a guy like that ended recently, and people like him. So you'll be fine."

Vivian threw her arms around Gene, and he heard gentle sobbing from her.

"I'm…so glad you think that." She stated. "Because…I love you, Gene."

She expected a return of that affection, but Gene stayed silent for a few seconds, until he pried her off him.

"Oh, golly." He started, awkwardly scratching his head. "I had no idea you felt this way." Vivian was smiling, but a few tears were building up in her eyes. Gene sighed, before he continued.

"I already found somebody during this."

Vivian snapped her head back. "Sapphire?"

"Uh, no. Look next to her. To your left."

She obliged, and noticed Bartholomew sitting down, avoiding her gaze.

"Sorry to break it to you, Vivi."