Chapter 102: The Storm Part 7
She reached into the inner lining of her suit and bit down on something small between her teeth.
For half a second, nothing happened.
Then her entire body jerked violently.
A sound like cracking ice spread across the battlefield.
CRRRRK—
Thin crystal veins surfaced beneath her skin. They crawled upward from her neck and spread down both arms like fractures tearing through frozen glass.
The change accelerated instantly.
Dark layered plates formed over muscle and bone, sealing across her body piece by piece.
The ground beneath her feet shattered as waves of pressure rolled from her body.
Her breathing deepened.
The rapier in her hand trembled once before becoming perfectly still.
Francis watched quietly.
No concern crossed his face.
If anything, he looked excited, like a chef watching his own food cook itself.
The crystallization continued spreading until nearly half her body had transformed.
Jagged dark structures wrapped around her shoulders, ribs, and forearms while thinner layers reinforced the rest of her body.
Her eyes slowly rose toward him.
Francis smiled.
"The stronger the prey," he said calmly while flexing one clawed hand, "the better the reward."
Lyrica vanished.
BOOM—
The street exploded behind her position.
Her rapier thrust toward Francis’s throat before the sound even reached him.
CLANG!
The collision blasted sparks and crystal fragments through the air.
He caught the blade between his claws.
The concrete beneath them collapsed instantly.
Lyrica’s eyes widened slightly after her attack was completely stopped.
Francis grinned.
"Much better. But not enough."
Lyrica twisted her wrist.
The rapier slipped free from his claws like flowing water before reappearing beneath his jaw.
CLANG!
Blocked again.
The second strike came before the first impact fully faded.
Then the third.
Fourth.
Fifth.
The air around them turned violent.
CLANG—CLANG—CLANG—CLANG—
Her speed kept climbing.
Exponentially.
Every movement fed the next one. The crystal layers along her legs and spine pulsed brighter after every exchange, compressing and releasing force.
Nathan struggled to follow her movements now.
Only flashes remained.
Short bursts of sparks.
Fragments of motion appearing around Francis from multiple angles at once.
"She’s getting faster..." Nathan muttered.
Another burst.
BOOM!
Lyrica vanished from and appeared behind him instantly, her blade already driving toward the base of his skull.
Francis leaned sideways.
The rapier missed by centimeters.
A shockwave still tore apart the ruined wall behind him.
Her next strike came right away.
CLANG!
Another came immediately after.
CLANG!
Then six more.
The rhythm vanished entirely.
No recovery.
Only endless pressure.
Lyrica’s crystalized body adapted in real time. Thin fractures spread across the armor before repairing themselves under fresh layers of crystal growth.
’Faster.’
’Faster.’
’Faster.’
The sound barrier shattered around her.
BOOOOM!
A circular blast ripped outward as she crossed past him again. Nearby debris flattened instantly while dust clouds exploded off broken buildings.
Even Francis narrowed his eyes slightly.
A thin cut appeared across his cheek.
Blood.
Her smile widened. "There it is. Come on."
She attacked harder.
Her body became a storm of silver flashes cutting through him from every direction. Entire sections of concrete split apart seconds after she passed them due to delayed pressure cuts.
Francis blocked high.
Low.
Turned.
Caught one strike.
Another pierced through the side of his ribs immediately afterward.
Dark blood sprayed across the street.
She was actually breaking through his defense.
And she was still getting faster.
Lyrica appeared directly in front of him. This time, three figures moved beside her.
Afterimages.
She was changing direction so quickly that the eye could no longer process the transitions.
CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG—
Her rapier became invisible.
Only the impacts remained.
Francis took a single step backward . The street beneath his heel exploded from the transferred force.
"You feel it now?" excitement flashed across her face.
Francis remained silent.
The pressure around him became unbearable. Nearby walls started collapsing from the nonstop shockwaves.
Nathan raised an arm over his face as debris blasted past him.
"She’s going to tear herself apart at this rate..."
But she didn’t care.
The crystallization had fully covered both arms now. Light pulsed beneath the dark layers every time she moved.
Her speed climbed again.
BOOOOOM!
Francis finally vanished from sight as the barrage forced him backward.
Lyrica chased him immediately.
A sonic explosion erupted behind every step she took.
She thrust again—
But he caught the rapier mid-thrust.
Lyrica’s eyes widened.
"How is this possible?" she demanded. "How can you withstand all my attacks and still catch my weapon?"
Francis’s grin widened slowly, exposing rows of sharp teeth.
"Simple."
His claws tightened around the rapier hard enough to make her weapon bend.
"I ate a lot before coming here. You could’ve won a few minutes earlier, but it’s too late now."
"You beast!." Lyrica’s expression twisted.
Her grip vanished as he yanked her forward with . His forehead slammed into hers.
CRACK!
The impact burst through the air like artillery fire.
Lyrica flew backward instantly, tumbling across the ruined street before driving her rapier into the ground to stop herself.
She still skidded another twenty meters.
"You really talk big after taking those strange drugs," Francis said with a laugh. "At this point, aren’t you worse than the Covenant members?"
"Don’t compare me to those abominations."
Lyrica rose slowly.
The amusement in her voice was gone.
Only anger remained.
The crystal layers across her body began flickering rapidly. Light pulsed beneath them faster and faster until the air around her distorted.
FWIP—FWIP—FWIP—
Her outline blurred.
Not from speed.
From vibration.
Chunks of loose concrete lifted from the ground and trembled violently from the pressure pouring out of her body.
Her hair drifted upward.
The rapier in her hand released a thin hum sharp enough to cut through noise.
Francis watched quietly.
Then his smile widened. The more she forced herself to reach her absolute limit, the more he would gain once he took her liver.
"Now we’re talking." he added.
SWOOOSH!
Lyrica disappeared.
Francis’s instincts screamed.
CLANG!!!
The impact bent his upper body sideways for the first time.
A shockwave exploded behind him hard enough to split an entire building down the middle.
Before he could recover—
CLANG!
Another strike hit his ribs from the opposite side.
Then his shoulder.
Then his spine.
Her rapier drove downward.
BOOOOM!
Francis crossed both claws above his head just before impact.
The street beneath him collapsed into a crater.
Lyrica didn’t stop.
The instant the blade rebounded, she flickered again.
And again.
And again.
Each strike carried even more force than the last.
Lyrica appeared once more, crystal light erupting around her body as she prepared another killing thrust.
Then—
KRAAAAAAAAAK!
A deafening crack split across the battlefield.
Both of them stopped instantly.
Even Francis turned.
The sound hadn’t come from the ground.
It came from above.
Nathan slowly looked up, blood dripping from his arm.
"...What the hell is that?"
The clouds overhead twisted violently.
A massive sphere of lightning formed high above the capitol.
Not natural lightning.
This thing was far too concentrated.
Thousands of electrical arcs folded inward endlessly toward a single point as though the atmosphere itself was collapsing into energy.
KRRRRRKKK—
The air vibrated violently.
Loose debris began rising from the streets.
Streetlights burst apart one after another.
Windows shattered across distant buildings.
Even the smoke covering the building started pulling upward toward the growing sphere.
Lyrica narrowed her eyes.
Francis just stayed still.
The lightning sphere kept expanding while compressing inward at the same time, becoming brighter and denser every second.
Then Francis felt it.
Pressure.
His instincts screamed harder than they had during the entire battle.
The sphere pulsed once.
BOOOOOOM!
A ring of lightning exploded across the clouds, illuminating the ruined city below for a split second.
Inside the center of the storm—
A silhouette appeared.
The figure descended slowly from the lightning sphere.
Violent arcs of electricity crawled across her body, revealing her form piece by piece through the storm.
A morphed maiden.
Long white hair flowed behind her like pale silver threads, whipping wildly against the turbulent sky.
Beneath it glowed a pair of blue eyes that no longer looked fully human. They carried the cold focus of a predator staring down from the heavens.
Silver wings spread from her back.
Not soft angelic wings.
These resembled the wings of a hunting falcon.
Layered metallic feathers overlapped tightly across their massive span. Every feather reflected lightning like sharpened steel instead of flesh.
Electricity crackled constantly between them.
Her face looked human only at first glance.
Thin pale feathers spread across her cheeks and around her eyes, blending naturally into her skin while still looking deeply unnatural.
They didn’t soften her appearance. They made her colder.
More dangerous.
Her arms had transformed completely.
From the elbows downward, they resembled massive talons covered in silver scales and layered feathers. Long curved claws extended from each finger.
Lightning gathered endlessly around those claws.
The sky trembled whenever they flexed.
Nathan’s breathing stopped. "...Lady Aris."
Francis’ ears perked up. He watched her transformation with curiosity, fully aware she was on a different level of her own.
Seeing her form now only made him glad he hadn’t confronted her earlier.
