The Speed of Strands

The plan started, with both Avie and I running at Cole.

She went right past him with a blue strand in her hand, jumping onto the obelisk of ice I summoned and watching the fight from above.

The Retriever shot through my leg and wrapped around me, pushing my right arm off of my body as well.

I regenerated both limbs before my leg hit the ground, black strands encapsulated my limbs, and The Eye of Providence activated in my head again.

As I ran forward, I began to realize that Cole was littering the battlefield with strands, just as Avie was starting to do.

I cut through them with the Mahina Armament, throwing it all around, recalling it to my hands, and jumping over strands. I flipped a few times to keep momentum, using Faith's body movement as inspiration to get closer.

Avie landed right next to me on the ground, boosting me up with her hands and allowing me to dodge another strand coming right from my throat.

The Mace Head came in from above, but was easily cut through by Avie and the Mahina Blade paired together. I kept running toward Cole, finally coming head-to-head with him while keeping all of the speed I gained.

Every time my foot hit the ground, I absorbed the energy into my body and prepared it with Shike's ability.

Cole summoned his own black saber and collided with the Mahina Blade.

I slashed upward and he tilted his head back, grabbing onto the handle and swinging down with his black saber.

I used Shike's ability to break his arm that was holding on to me, curved the Mahina Blade, and cut out his right eye before planting my fist into his chest.

He used Belle's ability simultaneously with me, causing friction to apply to the ice that started to throw ignited strands everywhere.

He tried to turn himself into an illusion, but I grabbed onto his collar and forced Mom's ability down onto both of us. I held him in place, and a spark of thought occurred in my mind, causing me to let go.

As soon as I let go, Avie kicked Cole's forehead to the back of his skull, and grabbed my arm, giving me a free exit from the situation.

Cole held his head, slamming his foot into the ground to regenerate it... and my Eye of Providence activated again.

I watched him fly over my body as I fell backward to dodge it... he was as fast as Avie now...

Avie stopped putting her strands into everything and was beginning to stop Cole, just by using her daggers and fists.

She swung so fast against his speed that sometimes, the daggers and punches would go through objects. It caused a shrieking noise as the two battled but was eventually ended by Cole's fake movement and his strike to the back of Avie's head.

It was the first time she was actually hit with damage, and she hit the ground, bouncing until she made it to me.

I caught her on the third bounce, sliding my legs while staring at Cole and putting her back on her feet.

Avie wouldn't let me ask if she was okay, pushing herself out of my arms and speeding up faster than I could perceive. She endlessly ran at Cole, pushing to ruin him, and hit him with an attack so solid that he would be stunned long enough to die.

I began to notice that Cole wasn't talking anymore, only focusing on trying to stay alive. With Avie running all around the field, pushing strands into every object she could, and countering punches Cole was throwing at her, I found a moment to myself where I looked around my surroundings to see what it was that Avie was exactly doing.

I knew what she planned to do, but her placement of strands and their solidified nature was confusing to me. I looked to every surface she could attach them to as shockwaves shot out in front of me, watching them glimmer in the sunlight.

I watched the loose endings of the strands glide in the wind, slowly bobbing up and down while appearing almost too weak. Avie was fighting Cole head-on, and I was just standing around... truth be told, her speed was too fast for me. All of my speed depended on her, and when I was left alone, I was practically useless.

I started moving across the field, going between shipping containers and even running on the bottom floor of Orion's boat, staring up through the cracked wood to reminisce.

While staring up, Avie flew above me and then slammed into the middle of the boat. The wood cracked and exploded as she hit the ground and she slowly turned over while healing herself with strands.

"Dammit... where does he get all of this power from?" She muttered, staring up at Cole while he looked down and smiled at the both of us.

"Puny Sky and Avie Asterio. So, are you tired yet? I still got plenty in me," Cole said.

He crashed through the ceiling, trapping us both under Orion's Boat while summoning a saber in his right hand.

"I bet you're wondering why this is here, aren't you? Why Orion's boat is here, of all places? It has to do with an Incarnation you've wielded before, can you find it?" Cole asked me. His eyes lit up, as the Eye of Providences activated once more.

Before Avie could land a kick on the side of his head, he caught her ankle, bent it, and pushed her back into me before throwing her dismembered leg away.

"We have the same abilities Sky, you can't figure this out? Oh, but let me put your worries to rest, I don't have an A.I. or some stupid shit up in my head, waiting to come out again. This is it, you're looking at everything right now... to be honest, I'm kind of upset there's nothing besides me here, because I really, really should've killed you by now," Cole said.

I spit blood on the floor in front of me, looking at my increased lifespan from the 30 years I had accidentally reduced.