Chapter 27
Nora is standing in front of Eduardo. As he takes his stance, she takes a deep breath. A few yards behind Nora, sits Desmond who is staying out of Nora’s line of sight and waiting for her to lower her guard.
Nora’s inner thoughts: Okay Nora, break this down. I have a pro in front of me but he’s out of his element. Sure, he may be good , but I’ve studied VBL for the past couple of weeks. So, his knowledge of weapons and abilities probably isn’t as good as mine. Then of course there’s Desmond, hiding somewhere with his sniper, ready for me to move so he can catch me off guard. If I had to guess, their plan is for Eduardo to keep me busy while Desmond waits for openings in my defense. It’s a good strategy and probably their best option. So, I need to somehow fight Eduardo while dodging Desmond’s attacks.
Nora edges her right foot forward and Desmond hastily fires a shot at her head. Nora instinctively speed boosts to the right, twisting her body so that she’s facing Desmond. While twisting her body, she throws her sword directly at Desmond, causing him to jump out of the way. Eduardo seeing the opportunity to attack, rushes in close to Nora, delivering three swift blows. Nora successfully parries the first two but fails to meet the third and receives a swift punch to the face. This doesn’t faze Nora at all as she counters with a quick karate leg sweep, completely throwing off Eduardo’s balance as he falls to the ground.
Nora’s inner thoughts: Thank you Javier.
Nora then resummons her leviathan blade, attempting to thrust it into Eduardo’s abdomen. Back on the ground floor, Desmond jumps up to the second level, then once more so that he’s latched onto the side of the wall. He takes aim with his left arm firing another shot at Nora.
Nora’s inner thoughts: Faster.
Nora speeds to the side, the bullet glancing past her, hitting the mall floor. Just a few centimeters from Eduardo’s face. Before Eduardo can regain his balance, Nora uses her second speed boost to close the distance between herself and Eduardo.
Nora’s inner thoughts: Move faster Nora!
Eduardo parries the first few strikes from Nora, while Desmond lines up another shot taking time to carefully line up the shot this time. Following Nora’s head with the barrel of the White Death he fires another bullet. As the bullet travels toward Nora, she continues her assault on Eduardo.
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Eduardo’s inner thoughts: Great, the bullet is dead on.
Desmond’s inner thoughts: This should take a large percentage of her health. She won’t stand a chance!
Nora suddenly spins her body to the left, completely dodging the oncoming bullet. Taking Eduardo and Desmond completely off guard, and leaving Eduardo open for Nora’s horizontal slash.
Demond’s inner thoughts: What the hell was that?! Is she predicting my shots, or just dodging them instinctively?! Is that even possible?!
Desmond hops over to an open space on top of the second floor. Reloading the sniper, and quickly taking aim again. As Eduardo gets in close to Nora again, he gives several quick stabs at her head, but she dodges each one. Nora parries his last stab, opening Eduardo up for another attack. Nora delivers. Slicing twice through Eduardo’s chest, and then kicking him to the side.
Desmond finally fires another round at Nora, but she speed boosts to the right. Nora turns around to face Desmond, with her special attack ready.
“Leviathan slash!” Nora yells.
Nora performs a slashing motion, and an energy emitted serpent escapes from her sword. As Desmond attempts to run away from the serpent he makes a last-minute bet. Unlike the dragon slash, which locks on to a point and unleashes itself. The Leviathan slash was hovering over the ground, not crashing into it.
Desmond’s inner thoughts: Wait a minute! Could it be that the Leviathan slash doesn’t lock on to a point, but instead locks on to the person?!
The energy serpent twists upward, getting mere centimeters to Desmond’s face, as he barely dodges at the last second by jumping off the second floor, down to the ground floor once again. While Nora’s attention is on Desmond, Eduardo makes his move. Slashing Nora in the back, spinning her around, and following with a punch to her face.
Nora inner thoughts: Move, faster!
Nora blitzes Eduardo. appearing behind him, Looping her hands around his waist, and suplex-ing Eduardo. As his head hits the tiled floor, his eyes briefly go blank.
Nora’s inner thoughts: Is it just me or did his body go limp. That suplex shouldn’t have killed him.
Down below, Desmond composes himself once again, and double jumps up the wall. Hanging on to the side of the wall and aiming at Nora. Through the corner of her eye, Nora spots Desmond aiming at her. Desmond is about to pull the trigger, when he suddenly feels a blade on his neck.
Jin comes in hot, and slices Desmond’s neck with enough momentum that he has to come to a sliding stop when he lands on the ground floor. Instead of being sent flying, Desmond’s body falls to the ground, as he grips his neck.
Jin’s inner thoughts: Job’s not done.
Jin leaps back to the second floor. Eduardo’s eyes finally opened. After realizing Nora was still holding him, he slips out of her hold and throws his demon short sword at Jin. Jin easily deflects it. Nora jumps back to her feet, while Eduardo retreats back a few feet of his own. As the three competitors square up, they all experience the same certain feeling, followed by a rush of adrenaline and the same shared thought.
Nora’s inner thoughts: I’m going for the win!
Jin’s inner thoughts: I’m going for the win!
Eduardo’s inner thoughts: I’m going for the win!