Chapter 8: Last stand
Seeing that hand, Lloyd and Colt understood why they could still communicate telepathically.
Even though he had a hole in his chest, Bruce was still holding on to his life.
When he raised his hand, streams of red threads left his finger, taking shelter within all the raindrops across a twenty-five-meter radius, forming an upside-down question mark within all the droplets of water.
Bruce further powered the already amped duo with his complex. Upon activating RAM, time seemed to slow down once again. From the perspective of Lloyd and Colt, the raindrops were immobile, and Bruce's hand seemed to be paused in time before it even fell.
Colt once again brought his left hand to his right palm, slowly pulling out a bright blade of light. It was the white star vestige, but this time, unlike before, it wasn't only a blade of light, but seemed to take a more solid form.
As he pulled out the blade, the light seemed to compress and crystallize together, forming a basket-hilt bastard sword lined with glowing Damascus carvings. Lowering his left hand with the blade grasped tightly in it, the air around the blade buzzed, and all the suspended raindrops that came upon its blade spontaneously transformed into mist from the vibrations it emitted.
Within this slowed-down world, without a second thought, Colt slashes at the owl man with enough force to fell great oak trees. Just like before, the owl man didn't move in the slightest, but rather, was fully committed to taking the full brunt of the slash head-on.
Colt's rapier landed on its cold latex flesh swiftly, but unlike before, it didn't bounce off its body like a toy, but sliced through its flesh, creating a large gash on its chest. Black blood rushed out of the owl man's chest, and it instantly retreated backwards, away from both men with a large leap.
As it soared through the air, the wind and rain gave no resistance. It was about to land back down, but as quickly as he disappeared, Lloyd appeared where he was about to touch down. The orange light around Lloyd's fist intensified as he held back a punch.
The moment the owl man landed, not even given a moment's rest, Lloyd's hand crackled through the air, landing a devastating punch on the owl man's forehead, slightly cracking its owl skull and sending him flying through multiple trees with ease.
Snow and rain alike gave way as the owl man's body slid off the floor into multiple trees. Both Lloyd and Colt rushed at the owl man, determined to attack it once again before it stopped moving, but Colt was faster than Lloyd and appeared behind the owl man first.
Bringing his rapier up, he pointed the blade at the owl monsters' back as it hurdled towards him.
The moment it came close enough, Colt lined up his rapier with the owl's spine and stabbed his blade at the monster's back. At first, the blade was met with a little resistance and couldn't pierce through, but in that same moment, he directed all the thin whisps of energy that surrounded him into the tip of his bastard sword, causing the already illuminated sword to glow with a light fiercer than before.
The moment it became illuminated, the once tough skin on the monster's back felt like butter as Colt's bastard blade pierced through without much resistance. Although the blade pierced through, it did not halt the monster's velocity, and Colt was slowly pushed back.
Digging through his memories, Colt recited words as he was being pushed back. "Stance of Capo Ferro."
After he said those words, he stopped and took a deep breath, his blade piercing deeper into the owl man's back, penetrating through his back and protruding out of his chest.
"Ferro's Grand Exhibitionist."
As he said those words, he violently twisted the blade, drawing his rapier sideways through the ribcage, opening up the owl monster's torso in a clean, obscene arc of white, radiant light.
Blood from the owl man stained the white snow floor with thick black sludge. The owl man sent out a devilish shriek, which paralyzed Colt, allowing it to escape. Colts' face was filled with discontent. He was disappointed in himself that he would allow a simple scream shake him enough to stop his momentum, but he wasn't all that bothered, because Lloyd was with him.
Unlike Colt, Lloyd was not calm in the slightest and was fighting like a frenzied beast. With his concentration already destroyed, the shriek of the owl man didn't faze him in the slightest.
While the owl ran from Colt, Lloyd didn't let him rest. He jumped into the air and landed on the monster's head. Then, after cracking its skull with force from his legs coming down, he let out a fury of orange-lit punches, all directed at the head of the monster.
Punch after punch landed with enough force to separate the water from the snow and crack the ground. Before long, he had completely pulverized the owl monster's skull face. Even with his hands covered in the black blood and brain matter of the owl man, Lloyd remained persistent with his punches, his face twisting with madness with every landed hit.
In retaliation to Lloyd, the owl man coiled his hand and pierced at Lloyd. Even though he was in a frenzied state, Lloyd noticed this and quickly moved to the side, avoiding that attack.
But as quickly as he moved, the monster appeared beside Lloyd, landing a heavy blow to his liver.
Lloyd was sent flying. He broke through two trees, stopping as he cracked the third one. At this moment, Colt was already free from the paralytic effects of the owl man's scream. Seeing Lloyd being sent flying, he didn't try to save him, but rather set his eyes on the monster once again.
The moment he faced it, he moved so fast that he seemed to vanish from the monster's line of sight and appear behind it. Unexpectedly, he didn't attack, but lowered the tip of his blade to the icy ground, leaving his body exposed and vulnerable to attacks.
Seeing this from afar, Lloyd couldn't make sense of what Colt was doing. He assumed that the owl used another attack to paralyze him, and rushed to Colt's side.
Unfortunately, Lloyd wasn't as fast as Colt, hence he couldn't make it to him before the owl man coiled both his hands and stabbed at Colt's torso with two piercing strikes.
As the hands of the monster made their way to Colt, he maintained his usual calmness, even though the tip of his blade was facing the ground. Taking in a deep breath, Colt once again recited words.
"Stance of Capo Ferro"
He then made the tip of his blade face the ground right between him and the owl man. His bastard sword trembled intensely as he once again directed the whisps of energy around his body to the blade of his rapier, causing it to shine even brighter.
He takes another breath and says, "The Open Cathedral."
With a swift upward slash, his rapier elegantly travels from the groin to the sternum of the owl man, opening up his body like the gates to a bloody cathedral, exposing its putrid organs, and spraying blood all around the ground.
With the accumulated damage done to it, the owl monster gently stuttered his way to the ground, spraying thick black blood on the wet, cold floor.
Although it had fallen from Colt's attacks, Lloyd reached it, bashing its frame through nine trees, crushing its body like a dried-up sardine, presumably killing what was already dead.
Suddenly, Bruce's hand reached the floor, and the effects of RAM had ended, the entire battle starting from when he raised his hand till when he dropped it.