Leo sinks into the depths of his animal instincts, succumbing to his rage. Stomping on the ground, a slab of rock emerges. Leo wraps his hands around the sides of it and swings it at Gyrum, splattering her. His rage has yet to be satisfied.
As Gyrum reassembles, Leo starts pounding the slab of rock onto her and swinging it from side to side, splattering her in all directions. Whenever a mass of her body starts to reassemble, Leo rushes over to it and hits it with the slab, causing the pieces to move further and further apart. After no trace of her is detectable, Leo releases the slab of rock and falls to the ground. Leo is finally able to regain control of his body.
“Leo?” Nadia asked as she clenched her head.
A silver spike shoots out from the ground and pierces Leo’s abdomen. “Are you satisfied now?” Gyrum asked.
The pieces of her body slowly work their way towards each other and reassemble as Leo swats the spike away. Once all of the pieces are together in one place, Leo grabs the slab of rock, slides it underneath her body. Using his ability, Leo causes more slabs of rock to rise from the ground, forming a cage that traps Gyrum inside. Staggering back towards Nadia, Leo falls to the ground.
“Leo, hold on!” Nadia cried out as she crawls over to him.
Nadia puts one hand on Leo and one hand on her head, but she can’t bring her healing ability out. Leo grunts as he passes out. “No, Leo, don’t die! Give me one second! My head will calm down and I’ll heal you!” Nadia cried out.
There is a grinding sound from the rock prison and Gyrum bursts forth. “It looks like it’s just us now, Nadia,” Gyrum muttered as she advances towards Nadia.
“Stay back!” Nadia screamed at Gyrum.
“Words fail to describe how much you disgust me, Nadia. You’re not even a shadow of your former self. After all of the Polymerists you’ve killed, what is so special about this one?” Gyrum asked.
“I’m not one of you anymore. Things like you shouldn’t exist,” Nadia growled.
Gyrum’s arm solidifies and she smacks Nadia in the face, knocking her over. Nadia struggles to climb back to her knees. “Our past doesn’t matter anymore. That is no way to address your superior! You should be begging for mercy! Since you’re immune to my poison, you should pray for a swift death! It doesn’t matter though. There is nothing in this pitiful world that can withstand me, except for you. I’m going to use this opportunity to release all of the frustrations that I’ve accumulated. Your final act for us, Nadia, is going to be providing me catharsis!” Gyrum screamed.
Gyrum’s leg solidifies and she kicks Nadia in the stomach, sending her reeling. Nadia clenches her stomach and rolls onto her back only to have Gyrum step on her hands. Leaning forward, Gyrum puts more and more weight on Nadia. The rest of Gyrum’s liquid form begins to wrap around Nadia.
“How much will it take for you to break? You may not realize it, but even though you don’t have your memories, you still have our durability. Watch!” Gyrum screamed as she throws Nadia into the air.
Gyrum catches Nadia and throws her into the ground with her back taking the full impact of the attack. As Nadia struggles to breathe, four silver spikes shoot out from Gyrum’s body, piercing Nadia’s arms and legs. Nadia screams as Gyrum retracts the spikes. “Come on, this should be nothing! You know, Argento died by being drown. How long can you hold your breath?” Gyrum asked as her arms wrap around Nadia’s neck.
Nadia’s arms and legs lie limp as she is being choked by Gyrum. Looking around, she sees Leo still lying on the ground from the wound he took earlier. Continuing on, all of the members of Dark were sprawled out on the ground from Gyrum’s poison. Nadia can’t find Penny or Violet and begins to fear the worst for them.
* * * * *
Violet is running through the hills when she runs into Nick. “Nick, you have to hurry. Gyrum is after Penny,” Violet explained between breaths.
“Have you managed to find anything that works on her yet?” Nick asked.
“Not yet, but we need to hurry. Nadia is injured, so we can’t afford to let anyone else get hurt,” Violet added.
“Our only option is going to be to retreat. Let’s try to find Penny and run it by her,” Nick said.
Nick and Violet move through the hills until they see Penny bleeding in the mud. “Penny!” Violet screamed as she races over to her.
“Nothing like telling the enemy our position,” Nick muttered.
Violet looks at the wound. “This is bad. Nadia can’t heal her either,” Violet panicked.
“Relax. Polymerists didn’t rely on healing spells in the past. We used herbs to treat our ailments. Let me treat her,” Nick sighed.
Nick treats Penny’s wound, but Penny won’t wake up. “Is she going to be okay?” Violet asked.
“The wound won’t be the problem. We need to find out if she has been poisoned and see if Nadia can heal her. I don’t see Gyrum around, so I don’t know if she went back to the others or if she is wandering around after us,” Nick muttered.
“Can’t you track her using your senses?” Violet asked.
“I can’t track a liquid person. She glides along the ground without making a sound and barely producing any vibrations. Our only option is to keep an eye out for her,” Nick explained.
“We can’t leave Penny here. We need to get moving,” Violet reasoned.
“You take one side of her and I’ll take the other. It would be best to avoid moving her, but the circumstances require otherwise,” Nick replied.
Nick and Violet each lift Penny from under an arm and start moving towards where the battle started. A white flash of light shines through the sky, expanding in a wall of light that expands outward. The light passes through Nick, Penny, and Violet and keeps expanding outward.
“What was that?” Violet asked.
“It’s never good news when it involves us,” Nick muttered.
The ground starts to rumble as some soil and dust are kicked into the air. After a brief moment, the rumbling stops and things quickly settle down. “Is this some kind of storm?” Violet asked.
“Animals have greater awareness than humans. If it were something natural, they would have detected it and taken action, most likely fleeing. Take a look around you and you’ll see that the animals are just starting to flee now. This is not the work of nature,” Nick explained.
“I hope one of the guys in Dark was holding something back until just now,” Violet muttered.