Leonel stood with an arm running through the Sylvan. They were more than close; they were practically one body at this point.

The fact that Ger'Ain's blade was already here could only mean that the Pluto never planned to spare the Sylvan in the first place. From the start, his fury had erupted, swallowing all his reason.

Leonel had actually used his body, the body of a noble Pluto...

As a platform to leap into the air?

Ger'Ain's roar filled the skies, and the light of dusk seemed to only pool over the

horizon faster as a result, almost as though the sun had been sent into a state of shock and fear by his fury.

Leonel had calculated this possibility, but he knew that even so, there wouldn't be much that he could do.

PUCHI!

The spear ripped through the Sylvan's side and came right for Leonel.

Although there wasn't much Leonel could do... that didn't mean there was absolutely nothing. At the very least, the fact that the spear had to come through Ger'Ain's body first slowed it down and reduced its lethality considerably.

Leonel kicked out with a knee that drove into the side of the Sylvan's own, then knocked his body over toward Ger'Ain even as the spear came toward him.

Suddenly, Ger'Ain found his spear's trajectory being forcefully changed by the fall of the Sylvan's body.

He tried to forcefully change it, but that ironically only slowed his blade down further. Trying to twist his wrist and change a blade's arc abruptly while in the middle of a cut was something any artisan would tell you was a foolish endeavor.

Leonel stumbled away, almost falling in weakness. Ger'Ain's blade still managed to nick some of his hair, almost cutting his scalp off from the rest of his body.

Taking deep breaths, Leonel steadied himself as Ger'Ain flung Vaelin's corpse to the side. The Pluto seemed to have grown in size, his shoulders bulging with what somehow looked almost like venomous veins and his body pulsing with power.

He raised his spear into the air and slashed out again and again.

He had a furious sort of power to him, his spear leaving afterimages in the air that only layered together after meeting Leonel's own. Then, rippling waves of strikes would erupt all at once.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Leonel blocked the first, and then the second, but the third drove him down to a knee. A pitiful spurt of blood came from the wound on his neck and shoulder before he was forced to block a kick that the Pluto tried to drive into his chest.

His body was sent sprawling into the distance, and for the first time since the battle with the army began, Leonel found himself on the ground.

He coughed, trying to get up, only to realize why it was that he had been so focused on not falling all this time.

It felt like he had no energy left to do so, the whining and groaning of his organs whispering into his ears about shutting down for good. And maybe many of them already had.

"DIE!"

Ger'Ain didn't mince his words, nor did he waste any time. The humiliation bubbling up in his chest was such that he didn't care about anything other than dealing a death blow to Leonel. He wanted to see him ripped limb from limb, to see his organs spilling out of his body, to see his head on a pike.

His spear swung down with such ferocity that its polearm bent beneath the pressure, its body curving in the air as its blade accelerated.

Leonel pulled on whatever strength he had left to roll to the side. But....

SHILING!

He hardly felt the pain. His body lacked so much energy that his nerves didn't even seem to fire properly anymore. Even when he lost his arm, it almost felt like an aged scab was falling away naturally.

He coughed, but more so due to the impact of such a powerful blade running through his body, while Ger'Ain only felt more infuriated that he still hadn't been able to kill Leonel with such a blow.

The Pluto raised his spear even higher and no longer even looked like a spearman at all. He reversed his grip on his spear and plowed it downward like a jackhammer. Leonel tried to roll out of the way again, but he couldn't. Without an extra arm for leverage, he wasn't fast enough.

The blade ran right through his chest, deviating slightly as though it had crashed into something heavy before ending up half in his ribcage and half in his gut.

But maybe just as bad now was the fact he was pinned to the ground.

Looking at the blade running through him, Leonel found it hard to believe that it was even there. Had he really pushed himself so far that he couldn't even feel such a thing? No... somehow... he felt that he still hadn't pushed himself far enough... it still... wasn't enough.

**

Aina's consciousness faded in and out. The pool of once clear waters was bathed in blood now.

She could faintly hear the screams of the women around her, telling her to stay away, to just give it one more push, but they seemed filtered through a mesh like her mind was in too much pain to process any of it at all.

She had yet to hear what she really wanted to hear... there was neither her husband's voice nor the cry of her baby...

Where were they?

Another shudder of pain barely snapped her awake.

"ANOTHER TUB, GET ME ANOTHER TUB! I need to see what's happening!" Elaine

roared out orders.

'No...' Aina thought to her.... I have to hold on...'

Her head faintly turned toward Leonel's direction. They were separated by kilometers,

and yet they might as well have been side by side. She could feel him... if only she

could also reach out and touch him.

Her consciousness faded.