Cole's Advantage

--Sky's Perspective--

"You don't need oxygen? Come on, get real. I know you do, and you can't fool me." I told Cole, waiting a fair distance away from him with a saber in my right hand.

[4:55]

"I hate that you think what binds you are the same things that bind me. Everybody in Quake has been trained to move without oxygen for prolonged periods of time. I am no exception. So, if your plan fails, then what? What are you left with? Besides... the lack of hope... the lack of Faith...?" He asked me.

With a burst of speed, Cole threw The Retriever at my head and wrapped it around my eyes, which I knew he did so he could hit Faith.

Faith was mid-dodge from the mace head before my eyes were covered.

And then I heard a loud crunching noise and an ear-splitting shriek.

I forcibly removed The Retriever from my head and opened my eyes to see the mace head planted into Faith's shoulder, slowly crushing up against her arm and pushing her ribcage into the rock behind her.

How did he hit her... she's supposed to block everything, right?!

She held onto it with helpless strength and it squeezed her more. The oxygen-less scream that came out of her mouth invoked something in me, and Cole seemed to understand.

[4:21]

"Now that we're here... if you move a single step forward, or look at the mace head, I'll push it against her body and splatter her. She's a Strand-Entity, just like me, I can see it." He said, brandishing his Eye of Providence.

"I'll give you one last opportunity to move that mace head from her body before I tear you apart, limb for limb," I said. My voice grew dark and my arm rose up. Cole pushed the mace head into Faith's body and smirked.

"I've heard that line a lot today. I've heard that opportunity absolutely slip my hands... yet it keeps coming back. You're a powerless man and a terrible Father. One who can't even save one person, let alone his own daughter. Do you hear that, Faith? Your Father is one helpless man who probably doesn't even deserve everything he has right now. Born into a body that didn't belong to him, forced to use mediocre powers that he stole from everybody else, just to have a chance against people like me. Pure luck! Do you hear that, Sky Asterio? I worked hard for everything I had... and you were born with it all. You are a pathetic excuse for a man." Cole yelled at me.

"...So... and what if you're right?" I asked him.

"Then, I would have every necessary reason to kill Faith here and now. To kill a failed child is doing justice to the bloodline of the future. To cleanse it of pathetic, luck-bearing, mortals who don't deserve their strength. I was drained of my blood and oxygen more times than I can count, just to train for a chance to fight you, and here you are, helpless against my attacks. All of that training has gone to waste. My entire life means nothing, all because of how useless you are!" Cole screamed, pushing the mace head into Faith's body.

I could feel myself shrinking inside of my body.

Cole was telling me what I was afraid to hear this entire time.

[3:30]

"I'm unfortunately aware that I'm useless... and that I'm a bad Father... and a bad leader... and a bad friend... but did I ask for any of this?! Did you, Cole?!" I yelled at him in return, freezing in place.

"I did. I wanted revenge on the man who killed me four hundred years ago, the one who murdered my family, thinking it was okay." Cole said. His volume was dropping.

"Dad... didn't kill your family... for no reason... THEY DESERVED IT!" Faith screamed out.

The mace head planted itself deeper into her body, and as I moved to shrink it with my eye, a spear was sent into my chest.

No... this wound was like no other.

Mahina Metal, on the tip of the spear lodged into my chest, was preventing me from healing my body.

"You take that spear out, and I'll kill her. TEST ME! TEST MY PATIENCE!" Cole screamed out.

[3:00]

Keep stalling... Sky...

"We were both sent into fates we didn't choose... and we're on opposite ends of them, powerless to the circumstances. Tell me, Cole, if you're so much better than me, then why are you just like me? Why did you get your childhood to train, while I had mine to suffer? For what did I feel all of that anger? Who was it for? Who did I kill all of those people for? Was it all to lead to this point, just to die to you? You can't be serious... you won't win this fight, and you'll be another obstacle for me. I won't let Faith die... let's turn the tables." I told him.

I shot golden strands around my body where the spear wasn't lodged into my chest and fixated my eyes.

"How about this? If you put that mace head any deeper into Faith, I will torture you. I have all the time since you can heal." I told him.

[2:41]

"I told you already, your threats are empty, and they mean nothing. You will watch your daughter suffer now, as a lesson for your insolence, before I kill you." Cole told me.

"What was I like back then? Do you want to tell me how I killed your family? Maybe that's the way you'd want to kill Faith and me... if you can." I teased him some more.

Just a little longer...

"Does it matter? You'll die the same way." Cole said after thinking for a moment.

[2:30]

I won't have enough time... I have to do it!

I tore out the spear, shrunk the mace head, and summoned ice to impale the bottom of Cole's head.

Before I could close the distance, he threw The Retriever at Faith.

[RECALLING ARMAMENT...]

I grabbed ahold of The Retriever, held it wide, and slapped it against Cole's face.

Something interesting happened as well when I stole it from his mace... and it was an injury on his face that wouldn't heal.

I took advantage of the opportunity and continued to swing at his face, but Cole dodged the attacks and sent the mace head right for me.

The Retriever was blocked by the sheer size and power of the mace head, and he was able to take control of it, grabbing onto my body, and pushing me to the ground.

[RECALLING ARMAMENT...]

With no cooldown present on my old ability, the Mahina Spear hit Cole right across his cheek as it burst the mace head like a balloon, freeing me from his clutches.

[1:48]