Ivan Kal - What War Had Wrought

Anessa landed on her back and rolled several times before she managed to get her feet under her. She got up to her knees only to see the O’fa running towards her faster than she believed was possible. A familiar buildup of Sha and a gesture from the O’fa was her only warning, and she attempted to roll to the side as a small implosion sprung in place just behind where her head had been. An implosion couldn’t be formed inside a being’s body, but place it close enough and the force was strong enough to kill instantly. Anessa moved far enough to escape instant death, but her shoulder turret was ripped to pieces, and the force pulled her back towards its center. For a moment, she was suspended awkwardly in the air, and then the O’fa reached her. His two left fists slammed into her from above, throwing her to the ground with such force that she actually bounced back, just as his foot slammed on her stomach, pinning her to the ground.

His weapons started firing directly at her chest, over her heart, and warnings started showing up all over her HUD. Still dazed, she attempted to put a shield in place even as she tried to move her hands over her chest, but each time she tried to create a shield, the O’fa would disrupt it, and as soon as she had moved her hands, a force grabbed and pinned them to the ground.

She was burning power as fast as she could, trying to push the O’fa back, and failing. Her mental attacks encountered shields far more formidable than she had ever encountered before, and any counterattack she attempted was instantly countered by the O’fa and his overwhelming power. She had already expended more than half of her power trying to overcome her opponent, and couldn’t see any way of escaping. The alerts on her HUD warned her that her armor wouldn’t hold much longer, and once it failed, a single bolt of fire would end her life.

With no other choice, she triggered the command that would inject the NX-02 drug in her system. She felt a sharp pain as the needles pierced her skin, and then almost immediately she felt power flood through her. With her energy supplies replenished, fire coursing through her veins, and every cell in her body bursting with power, she pulled, focusing as much power as she could into a single attack.

The O’fa paused his attack for just a moment, as he must’ve felt the drug’s effects, and that single moment where his power slipped was enough. Anessa unleashed a kinetic blast around her, breaking the hold the O’fa had on her and sending him hurling through the air. She moved faster than she had ever moved before and got to her feet. The three slots on her forearm opened and three small black spheres floated in front of her. With a surge of power, she bent the Sha around them, sending them towards the O’fa so fast that they could barely be seen by eye alone, and Anessa ran towards her opponent behind them.

The first of the spheres struck the O’fa just as he landed on his feet, hitting him in the shoulder and denting his armor. The second sphere encountered a shield that the O’fa managed to slide in place incredibly fast, slamming into it and bouncing off to the side with most of its energy absorbed or deflected. The third sphere encountered the same shield, but it punched through—although robbed of most of its power—hitting the O’fa in the chest and throwing him off balance.

Anessa reached him before he could recover, and before he could put up another shield, she raised her arms and leveled them with his chest. Borrowing Adrian’s move, she released a stream of plasma from both of her palms, scorching the O’fa’s armor, and as he raised all four of his arms to protect his torso, the plasma burned his forearms, destroying his weapons in the process. Trying to conserve some of her energy, she stopped shooting plasma, and stepped closer to the O’fa. She raised her left hand and smashed it downwards on the O’fa’s shoulder. The attack barely staggered the alien, and his hands flashed in a quick retaliation, hitting her in the chest. A blade dashed out of her forearm and Anessa swiped it towards the O’fa’s head. The alien ducked away as a telekinetic force took hold of her blade arm and pushed it to towards the ground, impaling a third of the sword into the rock. Before Anessa had a chance to pull it out, the O’fa’s foot came down hard on the blade, breaking it in half.

Then the O’fa retaliated. A kinetic blast picked Anessa off the ground and threw her backwards, and while she was still in the air, a force grabbed hold of her and threw her to the ground. Her head smashed into the rock hard enough that her vision went dark for a moment, stunning her. Then the O’fa was standing above her, his armor scorched and smoking, but still whole. Anessa reached out with her power, attempting to form an implosion just behind the O’fa’s neck, trying to break it. Her attack never had the chance to form. The O’fa sprung forward, picking her up by the neck and taking a few steps forward before he slammed her against a small boulder.

Her hands were forced apart and held by force that she couldn’t overcome, and fists pummeled her head against the rock so hard that for a moment she lost consciousness. In a desperate attempt to get free, she opened her mind and sent a mental attack, but the O’fa’s defenses were too strong, and she was too weak. As her body was restrained with the O’fa’s power, Anessa could do nothing. Her head was spinning, and all she could do was watch as the O’fa raised his upper right hand, extending all of his fingers and putting them together. A moment later, the air around them crackled and shimmered as a yellowish glow appeared around his fingers. Then the hand slammed down into her chest, slowly pushing through her already weakened armor. The O’fa started ripping pieces of her chest armor off, digging a hole in it, cutting and throwing pieces back as nanites in the armor tried to repair the damage unsuccessfully. Finally, she screamed as she felt the tips of his fingers cut into her chest as he ripped away the last piece of her armor.

He raised his hand for the final strike that would end her life. “You should be proud,” the O’fa said. “I have not been pushed this far in a very long time. Rest assured, your people will be put in their rightful place.”

Anessa looked at the O’fa with her vision darkening, meeting her death head on. Then, just as the hand started its path towards her heart, terror unlike anything she had ever felt gripped her. It lasted for only a fraction of a second as it brushed against her, and Anessa recognized what it was. The O’fa’s hand shook, and he stood up and walked several steps backwards as he was gripped by sheer emotion. His hold on her slipped, and Anessa saw his body shake as he was stepping away from her, his head looking up at something behind her. Then a wave of Sha burst from him, disrupting the attack. His body slumped for a moment, and then turned upwards in surprise, just as a massive streak of blue fur flew over Anessa and collided with the O’fa.

Adrian’s mind was on fire. The Gatrey had caught him by surprise; her attack had smashed into his defenses and was pushing through. Each time he tried to launch a counterattack, she would take down another one of his defenses. But he still held on. Several times she had tried to unleash an attack inside his mind that he was pretty sure would’ve killed him, but every time he had managed to thwart her attacks.

“You are strong,”a voice resonated inside his head. “Far stronger than I assumed you would be.”

Adrian didn’t dare answer; he kept all of his focus on countering the breaches inside his mind. She was powerful, more powerful than anyone he had ever encountered, including perhaps even Lurker of the Depths.