“So come on, Haustorian! Let’s see what you’ve got!” Ms. Natalia rose from her seat and it turned into an orb that shot out needles of darkness. I dodged each of them as I closed my distance by jumping on the various lunch tables. She then turned that orb into twin daggers and jumped off of the stage to swing at me. I used one of my gauntlets to block the attack and began my counterattack.

“Blazing Soul!”

I ejected so much steam out of my gauntlet, it stopped all of her movement in her tracks and I used the force that I was making to blow her away. But I wasn’t finished there. I flew above her and prepared a kick that would knock her out.

“Blazing Soul: Warhammer!”

Like a hammer, I kicked up the speed and made sure my foot was going to hurt her enough to incapacitate her.

But my leg never reached her. I was stopped in my tracks by a wall that she created from the stage. The wall then turned into a tentacle that latched onto me and threw me back and forth through the lunchroom. If I don’t get out of this thing’s grasp, I’m sure to get knocked out! I have to break out of this!

So to break out, I blew as much steam out of the soles of my boots and my palms as possible. When I did, I managed to break free of the shadow and go flying near the entrance. As I did, the shadows on that wall began to form into a mouth that opened wide for me to fly into. When I noticed this, I flipped mid-air and turned on the holes in my back to propel me away just enough to not get eaten. I want to get back onto the floor to conserve my energy, but the floor is pretty much lava! Like Ori said, it’s her territory. Anywhere I land, the shadows will swallow me up. Which makes me wonder: how am I gonna drag her out of here?

Before I could do anymore thinking, more shadow spikes and tentacles started to fly towards me as I zipped back and forth throughout the lunchroom, while Ms. Natalia was waiting for me to land so she could find an opening. One of the tentacles grabbed onto me and to avoid what happened earlier, I used my stemata to spin around and free myself from its grasp. Because I was spinning at such high speeds though, I had to touch the ground to stop my dizziness, regardless of the risks. Luckily, I landed at the right spot.

That hole that I made to get in here was shining a ray of light right where I landed. As I braced for another attack, the darkness that enveloped the entire room began to swarm around me. It swarmed around me, but it wasn’t making a move…

I get it now! Her stemata ignores artificial light, but natural light is fair game! I could use this to my advantage!

“Blazing Soul…” I shot up towards the ceiling. If I want to turn the tide of the fight and put things in our favor, Ori said I have to bring her into the sunlight. But what if I just changed the conditions of the venue?

“Machine Gun!”

I punched and punched the ceiling and wouldn’t let up. I kept punching until the entire ceiling came down and I didn’t stop there.

“Ohhhhh! Smart choice, Mr. Haustorian! Introduce my natural enemy to gain an advantage! But I don’t have to play by these rules!” Ms. Natalia made her way into the hallway to escape the light, but I wasn’t finished yet.

“GRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

I brought down the ceiling of the cafeteria and continued on through the entire building, completely obliterating the roof. My fists started to feel numb, but I kept going anyway. If she has nowhere in this building to hide, she’ll have no choice but to go into the courtyard since none of the buildings connect. I’m waiting for that moment. That split second where she transitions from one building to another through the courtyard. That’s where I’m counting on you, Ori!

Ori

He sure is making a mess over there…

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But it’s not a bad idea. Although it’s costing a lot of his crystal’s energy, he’s giving me this chance to immobilize her. I won’t waste this chance, Arno!

I aimed down my sniper’s scope and aimed at that entrance to the courtyard. Arno used a lot of his energy already. It’ll be way more difficult for him to pull a stunt like this again. If I don’t land this shot, our already slim chances reduce to zero. I won’t let that happen! Steel your resolve and hit the shot, Ori!

Arno destroyed the ceiling of the end of the hallway and with it, came Natalia leaping out of its double doors. In that moment, I held my breath and it was like the world was slowed to a near halt. As she moved through the air, I anticipated where she was going to briefly land to redirect her path into the nearest building and was ready to take my shot. As soon as I pulled the trigger for the ice shot of my stemata, in that world where time moved still for me, Natalia’s eyes darted towards me. Could she be processing everything that’s going on? What am I saying? Of course she is! If that’s the case, she’s definitely dodging that shot I fired!

I have never been so disappointed to be right. Before the shot could reach her, she stopped right before it and flipped backwards. What is she thinking? There’s no way she’s getting away now. In fact, it's way easier to predict where she’s landing now. Right behind Arno—

Bam!

Natalia’s plan wasn’t to flip behind Arno. She launched herself right above him and used him as a stepping stone. She landed on his head for a brief moment and began her dash away. Why didn’t I think of that?! She flipped herself way too high for me to assume she was gonna be behind Arno! And I couldn’t shoot her that split second she was on his head because I would’ve hurt him in the process. If it was an arm or leg, that’d be different. Getting your head frozen over is too discombobulating in a fight like this. This pretty much decides it. She’ll run into another building and it’ll be like going into a lion’s den naked. We’ll lose under those conditions for sure.

“You’re not getting away!”

When I was about to lose all hope, Arno used his stemata to close the distance and grab onto her ankle.

“Now, Ori!”

Good job, Arno! There’s no way I could mess up a shot like this. I would be an embarrassment of a shot if I did! I aimed down my sights and took another cryo-shot and this time, I didn’t miss.

I shot at her ankle and both her and Arno went down onto the floor. I wasted no time as I cocked my gun and fired my cryo-shots at the rest of her appendages. With this, she was practically incapacitated. All we have to do is knock her out and take our sweet time defusing the bombs. I’ll take this final cryo-shot to her head and she’ll be out of the fight.

“You guys have done well for yourselves so far, but in order to be a good CT, you have to have an unhealthy amount of paranoia. Ask yourself questions about the fundamentals of whatever fight you’re in. For example: If she’s a CT that has to work around the clock and her weakness is sunlight, what does she do when she has a day shift? How does she fight?” Her eyes darted to me and I knew immediately that I was in trouble. I pulled the trigger and shot my final cryo-shot, but it was too late.

“Envelope it all: Eternal Night!”

In almost a flash, all of the sunlight in the area disappeared. Or rather, it was completely covered along with the rest of the school in a dome. The sun. The one source of natural light that covers this planet was failing to shine its rays on this school. And if there is no light, there will be darkness.

I readied my sniper and was about to fire pyro shots, but the darkness that surrounded me grabbed onto me and dragged me into its depths.

Arno

The entire complex was overtaken by a wave of darkness and only one thought raced across my mind: escape. She can’t keep this up forever. If I can get out with Ori, we can figure something out once this blows over!

I flew into the sky and made my way to Ori, but it was too late. She wasn’t on the ceiling anymore and I couldn’t see her with a quick glance over the complex. She was probably captured already. I have no choice but to try to escape. I flew as fast as I could away from the source of the closing dome, but the walls closed in just as I was about to escape. I had no choice but to fight. I turned around and was about to go back to the courtyard, but I was grabbed by the darkness around me and thrown onto the floor. I looked up and saw a barrage of black transparent fists coming down on me. I have to do something. Anything to get out of this.

“Blazing Soul!”

I didn’t try to contain my flame at all. I let everything out as much as possible. Screw the container! I need to make it through this darkness.

As my stemata tried to get me off of the ground, more shadows latched onto me and kept me down. No matter how much I tried to free myself, it was no use. I was in her world now…

I used up every bit of my stem crystal until the very moment those fists came piling onto me.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

Each one knocking the wind out of me over and over…

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

I kept telling myself to stay conscious. To stay up if I wanted a chance to win…

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

But after so much of this beating, I couldn’t do it anymore. My world faded to black and I lost consciousness…