Chapter 28
Nora, Jin, and Eduardo all stand in a triangle, each with an intense gaze focused on the others. Eduardo looks into the top right corner of his vision to see his H.U.D and winces as his health is noticeably under half. He glances at Nora, and Jin, unaware of their status.
Eduardo’s inner thoughts: I completely lost track of their hitpoints in all of the chaos. So, this is what a 2-vs-2 is like in V.B.L.. Every detail is doubled from a regular match. The attacks, the amount of awareness needed, even the smallest amount of movement… It’s a lot. So…
Eduardo glances at Nora.
Eduardo’s inner thoughts: How the hell did she do it? Not only did she fight off Desmond and I, but she did it successfully. That alone takes an enormous amount of focus and spatial awareness. Even more than I originally gave her credit for. Doesn’t matter though, I’m still in this fight! I can still win!
Eduardo activates his “Rage”. Causing a visibly red aura to burst from his avatar, as well as his eyes turning red. The red aura blows past Jin and Nora.
Jin’s inner thoughts: So, he’s activated Rage and now his attack and speed attributes get a boost for the rest of the game. If Nora and I can press him a little more, we might be able to take him out before Desmond gets involved.
“Hey… Nora.” Jin says under his breath.
Without saying a word, Nora speed-boosts away from Jin and directly towards Eduardo. Jin, stunned, is left holding his hand up, until he quickly decides to follow her lead, sprinting towards Eduardo as well. Eduardo raises his short sword, readying himself for Nora’s attack, until she flashes behind him,catching him off guard.
Eduardo’s inner thoughts: She’s still locked in.
Eduardo barely blocks her swing with his short sword. Jin rushes in for the advantage until a rogue bullet flies past his face, barely missing him. Jin tries to follow the trail of the bullet but is unable to locate Desmond location, so he stands still, in preparation for the next shot.
Eduardo draws back and releases a large, backhanded swing, which Nora is forced to dodge using her speed boost to duck under the attack. Eduardo, taking advantage of this opening, grabs her by the throat. Nora, surprised, frantically tries to remove his hand, but Eduardo slams her to the tiled mall floor, shattering them in the impact. Without hesitation he stabs Nora in the stomach, then throws her into a store front that's modeled to look like a fast-food restaurant.
Jin, paying attention to where Desmond could shoot from, throws up his Momentum Dagger as a distraction, which immediately is shot... He jumps to retrieve his dagger that was sent flying away. While in the air, Jin pinpoints Desmond and kicks the dagger towards the sniper with it finding its home in Desmond’s chest. At that moment, Jin feels a presence behind him… Eduardo!
Jin’s inner thoughts: Shit!
Eduardo peels his demonic short sword down Jin’s back redirecting Jin’s momentum downward to the tiled floor, blasting the floor away.
Jin’s inner thoughts: I take another one of those and I’m dead!
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Eduardo falls to the ground attempting to land on Jin, who only narrowly escapes by rolling out of the way. A bullet pings the floor as he rolls away, as Desmond, who has already moved locations, attempts to take him out.
Jin’s inner thoughts: I can’t leave Nora alone with them again! She has to have the highest health of us all, followed by Desmond, then on the edge of defeat are both Eduardo and I. It would take too much time to try to hunt and kill Desmond. I’d be easy pickings for Eduardo to finish me off. But if I focus on Desmond, I’ll easily be sniped by him and finished off. How the hell did Nora handle these two on her own?!
Desmond reloads his sniper, unaware of the energy created serpent from Nora’s attack heading straight towards him.. By the time he notices, it’s too late and he is fully engulfed in the large shockwave created by the serpent, echoing through the mall.
Before Jin can say anything, Nora sprints from the destroyed store front, straight toward Desmond, with a deadly gaze in her eye.. As she sprints away Jin notices Eduardo moving towards his teammate, and runs over in an attempt to intercept him..
“And where do you think you’re going?” Jin asks his competitor.
“Out of my way prodigy!” Eduardo roars.
“Afraid I can’t do that, Mr. pro-player.” Jin slyly remarks.
Jin places himself between Eduardo and Desmond only for Eduardo to sprint behind him. Without skipping a beat, Jin twists around and flicks his Momentum Dagger at Eduardo’s back. Eduardo, sensing the oncoming dagger, grabs the blade out of the air and throws it to the side. Jin continues to close the distance between Eduardo, resummons his dagger to his hand and attempts to stab his competitor. Eduardo parries each strike.
As Desmond looks up, he sees Nora plummeting towards him. Unable to react in time, Nora slams the tip of her sword into Desmond piercing through him, causing another explosion of dust and debris. Jin notices the dust cloud in the corner of his eye. As Eduardo runs in for another attack, Jin hops back into the dust cloud hoping to use it as a smoke screen. Eduardo stays on the outskirts of the cloud aware Jin is planning some sort of surprise attack.
Eduardo’s inner thoughts: I know what you’re trying to do, prodigy, and it won’t work.
Jin’s dagger suddenly shoots out from the cloud straight towards Eduardo. He smacks it away with his short sword, but before the dagger can hit the ground, it disappears. Shortly after, the dagger once again comes flying out of the cloud With Eduardo effortlessly parrying it away.
“That won’t work, prodigy. Don’t tell me that’s all you have.” Eduardo taunts.
This time there’s a noticeable gap before the dagger comes back out of the dust cloud. As Eduardo knocks it upward Jin sprints out of the cloud and towards him with deadly fervor. Immediately he grabs Eduardo, holding him down for what comes next.
Eduardo’s inner thoughts: What the hell is this? He left himself wide open for my attack.
As Eduardo readies his sword, an energy created serpent bursts out of the clouds. Nora’s Leviathan slash is spot on its target.
Eduardo’s inner thoughts: Oh… So, this is why he –
Jin’s inner thoughts: I can’t leave Nora alone with these two again, but if I can sacrifice myself to take out Eduardo then I am confident she can manage Desmond on her own. I leave the rest to you, Nora Maxim.
Nora’s attack engulfs both combatants, finally bringing Eduardo’s health to 0 and causing his avatar to explode. As the dust clears, Nora is surprised to see Jin still standing there. In fact, even Jin is surprised to see he didn’t lose any health. Then it dawns on both of them as to what just happened. Teammates' attacks don’t hurt each other.
As the dust clears, Nora and Jin look at each other, Let out a sigh of relief then turn their eyes to their prey. Desmond finds himself stepping backward before they start towards him, grossly aware of the situation he is facing now
Demond’s inner thoughts: Shit! A sniper against two close ranged fighters?!?! Even if I was already a few yards away from them I don’t think I could face them alone. No, I can’t waste time thinking of things that didn’t happen. I must figure something –
“Leviathan slash!” Nora screams.
Desmond is instantly face to face with Nora’s attack. He goes to jump but sees Jin’s dagger incredibly close to his face, almost scratching his eye (or cornea). Using every part of his body to dodge it at the last second Desmond turns tail and tries to run away. But Nora’s attack is hot on his tail. Suddenly Jin’s dagger contacts Desmond’s left leg, causing him to stumble over and roll. He quickly picks his head up, but only just in time to see the large energy created serpent only centimeters from crashing into him. Jin ran behind Nora’s attack, allowing it to shroud him in it’s energy blinding Desmond to the dagger throws. As the energy attack continues to Desmond, Jin slices through his neck. Causing Desmond’s avatar to explode. Finally ending the match. Nora and Jin stand victorious.