WAL Invitational Round 1 - Of Fire & Blood ( Nova Vs Cass)

@feral_nova

The cell faded around him as the lone Knightfalls mind slid into another realm. Unsure if he was still awake or dreaming as his body felt weightless and the air around him became bitterly cold. Smashing into the ground as if the great ethereal hand that cradled him vanished leaving only the crunching ice of the surface beneath him. The shock to his system causing his body to shake violently as it fought to seek warmth and maintain its survival.

"You will fight until you are unable to continue fighting. Whether that means death or merely a broken bone or two, that's up to you and your opponent."

Survival instinct kicking in the weaponised warrior placed one hand over his eyes looking through the drift accessing the scene as best he could. Spotting the towering silhouette of a mountain range to his east. At least two clicks across a vast sea of ice and snow. Not a quick route but fighting in this drift would be as fighting blind and would give the horrendous atmospheric conditions the chance to end him before he could even put up any defence. His mind made up he set off.

Pushing himself beyond the realms of endurance marching machine like through the blanketing torrent of snow towards what he hoped would be caves a stoney crag any kind of possible shelter. His tracks no doubt shortly to be hidden behind him should his opponent be a tracker they would have their work cut out as the surface seemed to ever change with fresh snow settling n the compacted ice and the strong winds causing the powder to move like the tides of the sea. After what seemed like the entire ice age Cassius found himself at the foot of the mountains, breathing heavy as he began to climb looking for any path that would shelter him and allow him to set a battleground he could control.

Several feet up from his starting position he could hear the dripping of water echoing from what appeared to be a long shaft descending into the rocky abyss. Pulling himself up and into the dark tunnel, the temperature seemed to rise several degrees as the wind chill was nullified significantly. Fumbling in the dark as he reached for his belt, finding his weaponised miraculously attached to him. If the weight of his chest and the cold hadn't felt as real he would have convinced himself to be dreaming. These tools of his were surely locked up somewhere in Gothic City.

His mental musings cut short as a hideous roar echoed around him a fast and powerful force sending him crashing into robust and jagged wall behind. Something biting down on his arm clamping it in its mouth rendering his metallic appendage useless. Frantically wrestling with his holster and freeing a firearm Cassius drew and fired rapidly into the dark the muzzle flare showing flashes of a terrifically sized white furred creature towering above him with great horns shortly beneath the top of the caves roof. The two struggled in a death grasp the beast great white paw slamming into the weaponised warriors chest as he squeezed off more shots into the soft tissue of the mighty beast jaw. Falling heavily to the ground breathless and bloody Cassius utilising his amplified strength managed to fee himself from the weight of this giant creature laying motionless on the cave floor.

Reaching for a flare and tossing it to the floor his torso and face smothered in the creatures blood giving him face a dark crimson sheen. Pulling his knife out he began to work at the bests mane quickly trying to fashion some sort of extra protection from the cold. Knowing that the sounds of his first death battle would carry easily across the icy plane and echo through the mountains setting the groundwork for what would be his second death battle of the day. His ribs already afire from the beasts feral strike causing every breath to burn inside him.

@cassius_knightfall:

Cold, that's what she felt suddenly as she gasped for air, her lungs burning from the sudden chill, forcing her to cough almost instantly as steam from her breath escaped from between her lips while her body was laid out in the soft powder snow. Her blue eyes shot open as she struggled to sit up, her body felt like it was already frozen, her muscles and joints stiff from the cold. She seemed to awaken in a frigid wasteland as far as the eyes could see. Powder like snow laid like a permanent blanket across the land with pristine ice lakes and crystalline ridges of icy mountain ranges reached up towards the sky. She sat quietly for a moment, but aside from the hissing of the frosted breeze, all she could hear was her own breathing as not another single living creature could be seen in this Godforsaken wilderness. Standing up she left behind a small melted patch that reviled the dead blacken ground underneath it. Zoe’s natural heated body temperature caused the snow that was laying upon to melt as she was left unconscious, for who knows how long. Her body’s natural temperature of 104 degrees, not only caused the snow to melt, but also forced her body to work harder to keep herself warm. But the subzero temperatures wasn’t the only thing that made her shiver to the bones, it was the view of the sky. It was blue, littered with thick grey clouds, making their way across the sky and blocking the sun every so often… along with the view of a plant that hung on the western portion of the skyline. It was so close you could see the craters that littered it its surface. Where was she? How did she get here? Why couldn’t she remember?

A small spherical drone suddenly came before her, causing Zoe to take a step back as her foot crunched into the snow up to the mid line of her calf. The chill of the ice all around her caused the Fire Goddess to shiver as she balled her hands into fists. Now she remembered, she remembered why she as here. She was nothing but a pawn in a horrible intergalactic game. "I'm not doing this!" She yelled at the drone, the steam of heat from her mouth pushed out like a dragon ready to unleash its fire. "You can’t make me do anything if I just… chill here.” The small drone began to circle above her as her ears caught the sound of not just one, but several gunshots that echoed through the valley of death. Her head perked up, eyes darting in the direction she could have sworn the shots came from, the icy mountains. Damn it, now she couldn’t just wait things out, she was going to have to move forward.

She hesitated as she took her first step forward, she wanted to go check on the person, but at the same time, she knew what would happen. Everything was already explained to them, if they refused to fight, they would be forced to fight through the little chip that was inside their brain… which could explain the slightly throbbing pain to the back of her skull. So either she was going to have to fight this person on her own and be in control of herself, or be forced to do things that she would never dream of doing to another person. Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes as her body began to give a soft golden glow, before flames began to dance around her body, slowly lifting her off the ground. However, something was wrong… very wrong. The fire was weaker, and not nearly as lively. She was working harder to keep her flames up as her lungs began feel as if it couldn’t keep any air inside. Her flames vanished as she took in a deep breath before landing back on the ground, becoming slightly lightheaded as she slightly hunched over. This barren land was not only deprived of life, but of oxygen as well. There was enough to keep Zoe feeling ‘normal’ without using her fire, but bursting into flames made her body work almost three times harder. “Ok… no fancy fireworks. No problem. The cold doesn’t bother me anyways.”

Her feet shuffled through the snow as her muscles trembled from the cold, trying to produce enough heat for the Fire Goddess to stay warm as she almost slipped while making her way from snow, into slick ice of the frozen lake. Her eyes looked up at the mountain to see a dim glow escaping from what seemed to be a cave along the rigid sides of the mount. It took what felt like hours to climb up. Her body was numb and cold as she finally made her way into the cave. Breathing heavily she looked in to see the once bright light to have shined through the entrance of the cave when she first spotted it, to be nothing more but a dim light now. “Hello?” She called out, taking a few steps in as the camera hoovered in before her, giving off a small red flicker of light as Zoe suddenly got a little lightheaded. Woah, what was that? Could it be that the oxygen in the cave was thinner than outside? She shook it off, not realizing that the reality she was about to view, was going to be one that was created and manipulated by Marss Olek. Pushing forward her still snow covered body made its way a bit deeper into the cave as her ears picked up small trickles of water come down from the cave, indicating that there was ice, inside as well. She was going to have to be careful, if she used her fire abilities, she might accidentally drown herself out. “Ice saw your flair, I’m not here to hur-“ but she stopped as the stink of a metallic element filled the icy cave. Her eyes then caught the sight of it, a bled out corpse laying out before her, but thanks to the power of mister Olek, it wasn’t a savage beast that had just attacked Cassius, it was-

“LARUEN!?” Zoe cried out, as her heart began to race in a panic inside her chest, completely forgetting about how cold her body felt or the fact that she was in the middle of a tournament. She sprint forward, dropping to her knees as she looked down at the body of what she saw was her once eldest sister. “Oh God, nonononononono, Lauren, Lauren!” She picked up her sisters head, carefully cradling it as her blue eyes caught sight of the several bullet wounds that seemed to litter her sisters body. She wasn’t just killed, she was slaughtered. In reality, Lauren had been dead for several years now, and was the reason why Zoe became Feral Nova, but in this moment, being manipulated by the technology of an intergalactic tv network, this was Zoe’s first time seeing Lauren dead. “I should have gotten here faster, I should have flown here, oh my God Lauren I didn’t know you were here!” Tears streamed down her face as she placed her face against her sisters chest, not carrying about the crimson fluid that was now soaking her uniform. “Who did this to you?” She sobbed as she slowly picked her head up, sorrow and pain that once filled her eyes was now replaced with anger and vengeance. “WHERE ARE YOU!?” Zoe stood up, as she extended her hands out as they combust into flames. While covering her entire body in flames was going to be a little more difficult, sustain fire in small increments was less challenging, but right now… she just didn’t care. “I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” She yelled as she felt the rage fester inside her chest, her eyes beginning to give off a yellow glow. “COME OUT HERE AND FIGHT ME!” Without warning she pushed her hands forward as she took in a deep breath before firmly planting her feet upon the ground in a wide stance, and just like that, fire roared to life like a hungry beast. A stream of golden flames rushed from her arms and to her hands as the ice began to melt more quickly within the cave while she tried to push the monster that killed her sister out of hiding by force.

@feral_nova:

Something shifted within the weaponised warriors mind. Fractured (or perhaps activated). The cloud that fogged his thoughts parted his gray matter became his own as a flood of thoughts memories and names washed over him. Overwhelmed by the immense mental feedback as a lifetime of events slew him to one knee his hands achingly grasping at his temples. His whole body shaking with the violent realization of everything he ever knew. Minutes came and went as he managed to regain his footing but then came the voice and he had no choice but to be ready. Or die.

“WHERE ARE YOU!?” , “I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” ,“COME OUT HERE AND FIGHT ME!”

Each sentence ringed in his head the echoing repeating the sentiments endlessly in rapid repetition. Then he saw him. "LeBeau" the mutant masochist and heir of destruction. "Not today. Not ever. For Sophia" Pulling his dagger from his belt he ran across the ground as fire erupted all around him. Engulfed in a torrent of burning hellfire he plunged to its epicenter. His hair burned his skin singed his rudimentary cloak ablaze his armour beginning to warp but his momentum never slowed and the point of his blade primed itself to rend the very heart of the LeBeau legacy. A flurry of strikes parting the flames as he reached his target. Ruthless aggression as he aimed to tear the life out of the b#stards chest. His rudimentary cloak

A flurry of strikes parting the flames as he reached his target. A plunging lunge carrying the momentum of his sprinting leap followed by a succession of rapid slashes towards the throat and upper torso. Ruthless aggression pouring out as he aimed to tear the life out of the b#stards chest. The smell of the creature's blood and burning fur consuming the cave around the two fighters as the flames continued to eat away at its every side. The very roof of the cave weeping causing a reaction similar to rain. Fire and rain, blood and smoke attack and counter , violence and eventually death.

@cassius_knightfall:

In her life, the Fire Goddess, had never seen this happen before. A man came rushing towards her with furry in eyes, through her own flames. He was like a rabid dog, the fire, even though searing his body, refused to back down and instead, pushed forward towards her. “What!?” She yelled quickly lowered her hands, putting out her flames as her eyes instantly began seeing stars. She knew this planet was low on oxygen, but she chose to ignore it, repercussion? She was now experience room spinning dizziness. Zoe became extremity unsteady on her feet as her vision began to darken from the lack of oxygen in her blood. Her stumbling and unsteadiness caused her to misstep when she tried to dodge the attack of the Savage Knightfall, only to receive a sharp stabbing pain not into her chest, but right into her the soft flesh behind her left clavicle. She let out a cry of pain as she took several steps back only to have the crazed warrior continue to push forward towards her. Zoe pulled her arms up, blocking occasional attacks to her neck and chest wall but lacerations still being created along her abdominal area. Even when she tried to counter an attack, he was already making his next move, she couldn't get an attack in! Who as this man?! Why did he kill her sister? "WHO SENT YOU!?" She screamed at him.

Cave began to crumble around them, the structure now weakened thanks to Zoe and her flames as the foundation began to tremble. Rocks began falling down all around them, a bolder smashing down right in-between them, causing Nova’s body to be pushed backwards as she landed in a foot of water on the cave ground due to the melted ice. Crimson fluid washing off her body as drizzles of water came down from the rigid rooftop of the cave, she needed to get out of here, now. This area was too narrow for her to fight in, she needed distance, open space. Pushing herself up from the ground she gave a painful grunt as she pressed herself against the wall of the already rumbling den. Balling her hands together into one large fist she slammed them forcefully against the wall of the cave causing the entire ceiling to cave in at once upon the two. However, a small spark of electricity danced across her sclera as she channeled the speed force and like a blur of red and blue she quickly made her way out of the den, only to slip on black ice right at the entrance, causing her to lose her footing and slip.

“SHT!” Her body began tumbling down the mountain side. Her body slamming into boulders and ice mounts as her body finally reached the base of the mountain, her body plowing into a pile of fresh snow. Pushing herself up, her body began to tremble due to the bitter col while her feet began to shuffle onto the slick crystal lake while her blood left a small crimson trail behind her from her fall. She extended her hands out her sides as she began to push her abilities once more, this time though, not with fire, but with just thermal heat. The clashing of her heat and the chill caused a refraction to begin in the space between her arms and the ice. As she continued to quickly waddle along the ice, she could hear the audible crackling of the frosted lake, the heat quickly thinning out the ice and making the lake into an icy death trap. After about twenty feet, and thinning out her immediate area she felt the need to rest, her knees dropping to the ice as blood began drizzling from the opened wounds to the ice, sizzling up on contact due to her body’s naturally abnormal body heat. Grasping a hand full of snow that littered itself across the lake she began to smear it upon her wounds, the snow actually giving a burning sensation to her gaping wounds rather than a relief of cold. This was to constrict her blood vessels, to slow the bleeding down so she wouldn't bleed out before the fight was over. She knew her connection to the speed force would eventually allow her body to heal itself, but because of her lack of training with it, it was going to take longer than just a couple of minutes.

Forcing herself to stand she looked in the direction in which the cave had just collapsed upon itself.She was hoping, if he made it out of the frosted den, he would be making his way towards her, and be forced to begin to walk across the frigid lake. Hopefully in his feral state, he would be too eager to come after her and crack the ice under his weight. Zoe wanted give the b@stard who killed her sister, a frosted watery grave.

@feral_nova

The LeBeau Legacy's scream of anger and anguish causing a rye smile to form on the weaponised warriors bloody face. He remembered how Charlemagne's bastard fought his personality and the wrong he had done. He remembered his cockiness and his sure-fire swagger that saw him strut around like he owned wherever he stood. But the nagging thought began to emerge. Lucian has no control over fire, Cassius anger blinding him to the cold hard facts of reality instead leading him through the fires of destruction. Something was amiss. This wasn't Lucian LeBeau not even a decent fact simile, a composite of his memories perhaps some sort of projection something he couldn't work out. Fighting as he would against what he saw would lead to surprises, surprises would lead to deadly mistakes he had to ignore what he could see and instead focus on what he could feel. If his gut could lie to him as well then he was truly boned.

Strategizing drawing his focus as the weight of the heavens came crashing down around him. A hunk of ancient stone shattering across the floor sending fragments of stoney shrapnel splintering off like flint daggers each little piece shaving off shards of ice and more stone a cataclysm of a cave in began as each crunching collapse set off another. Lucian or whatever he was really fighting moved with unnatural speed towards the exit vanishing from sight quickly . Pushing forward as the world turned upside down Cassius found himself being clattered from side to side as he tried to weave through the collapsing cave. Every crunch of stone hitting like a truck every dagger of ice sharp and colder than malice that kept him going. Clawing his way back passed the collapsed creature and his burnt out flare as the cave collapsed ahead of him. He had to go for broke of be buried alive.

Seconds passing as he located primed and launched his last explosive charge. A great crack of the explosive discharge echoing across the sky of the planes of ice beyond the soundwave nearly deafening the crawling Cassius as he collapsed spilling his way out of the cave. Punch drunk and bleeding his burns and the pain still reminding him he was alive as he wobbled to his feet and painfully ventured back out onto the ice. The bitter breeze burning right through him sending a chill to his every part.Tracks leading into the snow fresh enough to follow as he staggered forward the sky parting above as the white drifts opened to a vast and empty starlit sky bathing the bright white ice in a silvering blue hew. The two combatants now clearly visible to one another as if the environment willed their battle.

Moving closer before coming to a halt detecting something shifting under foot. Something his opponent had obviously noticed as they appeared to be luring him in. Something he knew was incredibly stupid and risky but then the realisation hit him. What else was he going to. He had no idea where he was, no idea where the nearest medical help would be and if he would even last the journey. Better to go out fighting. Pulling out his pistol disengaging the safety and firing off into the ice around the figures feets. Its shape fading and shifting as it appeared to struggle in how to appear. Perhaps something had been damaged in the chaos of the cave and the reality would reveal itself to him. The ice began to rumble like thunder as it started to crack and fragment Cassius aiming one shot at the targets feet before speaking directly at what was becoming more and more like the shape of an unknown woman. A gambit that he had to try as he had seen what destruction mind control had brought him. Something That now ate at him as much as his wounds.

"Something is controlling us. I won't allow that to happen again" Shooting the remainder of his clip(saving one round)around himself causing the rapid degeneration of the ice in all directions including that of the unknown woman.

@cassius_knightfall:

The spherical camera loomed over the crystallized lake, taking video from a distance as it focused on the two combative. The hiss of the frigid winds could be heard as the two stood their ground across from each other. Zoes wounds still oozing as her body began to grow slightly pale. Her body ached, it hurt to breath, her head felt as if it was spinning and these lacerations were still oozing blood through the tares of the front of her suit. This animal of a man, she had never fought someone like him before. It was as if he felt no pain or had no fear of death… maybe both? But her sapphire eyes continued to glare at him, she had to conceal, don’t feel, don’t let him know of what she was really feeling… terrified. But she had to push the fear in the back of her mind, this wasn’t about her right now, this was about getting vengeance… no… justice for what he did to her sister.

He aimed his gun at her, and her body hunched forward, as her heart skipped a beat. Normally she could just do BOOM fire wall and melt the bullets before it could reach her, but now? The rumbling of the ice began to sound like that of a hungry bear, he wanted to feed, needed to feed, but the ice was like it’s cage, keeping it at bay… or at least it was. Zoe's body jumped as the explosion came, deafening in its thunderous exultation, the bullet ripping the frosted air and slamming right into the ice below her. She took a step back, gritting in pain as the frosted lake once more rumbled in hunger.

"Something is controlling us. I won't allow that to happen again"

“What?” Her cracked blue tinted lips parted, her breath pushing out from between her lips in a white smoke as more bullets came causing her to fall flat on her butt onto the ice, her body skidding a couple of feet as several fissures from each of the bullet holes in the ice suddenly began to form. This time, there was an almost roar like tremble from the lake as it seemed to suddenly come to live, as if the cage that once held a beast inside, was now broken open. Violently the ice began to crack and break apart from each other, shifting under the weight of the two combats as Zoe’s body was suddenly flung backwards and into the icy water with a panic of a gasp.

The frozen water felt like needles piercing into her skin mixed with a burning sensation that lit her nerves on fire. She couldn’t tell for a moment which way was up as her body tumbled through the watery grave until her body hands caught the touch of the ice above her. She was under the lake, under the ice and she was feeling her lungs begging for air. Her hands pressed firmly upon the ice as her eyes began to give an amber glow, the ice cracking under her power as the water around her body began to boil. The ice fracture under the heat, and that was all the sign she needed. Balling her hands up she used the little oxygen in the water to fuel her as her body rocketed upward, her fist breaking through the ice as shards of the frosted lake shot upward towards the sky with Zoe as she flew into the air for a moment before falling down upon land just a few feet from the fractured lake. Rigid rain made up of the ice fell downward from the sky as she began heaving up water from her lungs.

Her skin a deathly white as her body shivered uncontrollably, her head slowly looking up at the man who almost drowned her. Shaky she stood upon her feet, bringing her right hand up towards her face. "N-now y-y-our DEAD!" she yelled with malice in her voice, she was tired of having to hold back because of the situation at hand, she needed to try and finish this fight, now. Her eyes glowed with heat as she scowled at her opponent as her hand trembling before her eyes as she held out her hand, her fingers flexing with power. Her power she had been putting off to use all this time because of her fear of the thin oxygenated atmosphere was now ready to be let loose as the heat flowered through her blood, warming her body as the same power that flowed through generations of Feral Nova's coursed through her own veins. Taking in a deep stinging breath, her chest rising and falling, as the concentrated heat spread through the air raised her hair in a flaming halo around her head. As she opened her hands, a spark was suddenly lit as her seemingly fragile body let loose the fire within her in a single large explosion of golden and crimson fire. The eruption caused the planet surface to tremble as the inferno expanded out from Zoes body in every direction. Because of the lack of oxygen upon this planet, the eruption wasn't as large or powerful as Zoe could have done if she was back on Earth. However, it was still deadly. The roar of her flames instantly heated the icy atmosphere as the snow and ice evaporated into nothingness in a mile long radius as her flames reached temperatures that were five hotter than the Earth's own core. Any ice or snow around the area of the blast would be gone, exposing the blacken, dead soil underneath them that had been destroyed by the eternal winter.

@feral_nova

The floor caved in and the world began to turn upside down. Cassius's salvo shattering the surface as far as the eye could see as every shard of ice fractured in chorus. Slamming his knife into a hunk of ice as it turned over tipping him towards the icy depths he held himself outta the water for a second. A splash of what felt like liquid nitrogen washed up onto his legs the brutality of the ice causing his mind to flash back to a deep-rooted memory of cold. Suddenly he felt restricted his arms ceased to move his strength leached from him as he let go and slid into the water. Submerged and near frozen immediately as the air fought to free itself from his aching lungs. Flashes of metal , pain and the cold. A restaurant and a table covered in blood.

What felt like minutes hours even passing as the lost Knightfall saw his every action. His childhood, his training , his family and what he had done. Each thought played out like he was hovering beyond himself, ethereal watching his own highlight reel. The torrent of emotions flowing through him as he sank deeper into the arctic flow.

His heart began to stutter his lungs near their last breath burning as if aflame, then he heard it. Somewhere deep within himself beyond the realms of pain beyond the depths of his consciousness came energy , focus desire even. His legs and arms began to claw at the water as he fought like a man possessed his plummet to the depths rapidly reshaped into a watery ascension.

Pushing towards the surface as his lungs begged for their release and a lung of sweet air. His head finally breaching the surface breathing heavily and as audibly as he ever had cold still riddled his every fibre.Shaking violently as reached up onto the shelf of snow slamming his metallic arm down and yanking himself slowly but meaningfully back onto what would hopefully be solid ground.

Getting to his feet barely able to hold himself up. Every fibre of himself was broken. Ice fire rock and ruin had riddled him with a series of injuries that should floor him. Yet he stood. There was still this something in his mind, it knew the end was near but he would greet it on his feet weapon in hand.

The sky shifted from its grey and blue hew overhead rapidly as oranges and reds claimed it all. Her form a shadow in the radiant light around her. With the light came warmth and fire, before he could react he was flying.

Ragdolled by the force of a cataclysmic explosion. The very flames of creation had come to claim him as he shot across the sky, a flaming metallic star crashing back into the ice miles away. His body now truly completely broken. Barely awake as his pain consumed him. The only things he could sense where his failing body and the smell of his charred tissues. His armour sizzling as his body sank into a bank of snow before resting in a puddle upon scorched earth.

Then he heard her. His metallic arm still clutching his firearm as he closed his eyes and waited for her to confirm the kill. He had one chance one bullet to bring the burning b*tch down to hell with him. With his last ounce of life he would have that chance.

@cassius_knightfall:

The Fire Goddess dropped to her knees as her vision went dark, her hands planting firmly on the ground as she began taking in slow deep breaths as steam continued to radiate off her body. The lightheaded dizziness crippling her from moving as her body hungered for oxygen after her display of power. Her fingers dug into the cracked soil that had been dried out by her flame, as if trying to keep herself anchored from falling over. The atmosphere was heavy in humidity for a moment, the frost that was hanging in the air was turned into vapors thanks to the sudden outburst of heat. The air was still slightly warm around her radius, but the chill was beginning to creep its way back into the isolated area.

The drone could be heard hoovering from a distance in front of her as she finally began to regain her vision. Her tired pacific eyes looked up to see the body of the scorched Knightfall from a distance, heat emitting off his body as well. Pushing herself up she stood on her shaky legs, forcing herself to stumble forward as her feet dragged upon the ground, steam still rising from her as she began to get closer towards the feral warrior. Zoe needed to make sure that damn b@stard was down for good, she needed to make sure justice for Lauren was done and crubstomp his face into the ground if needed.

Her jaw was clenched tightly as her laceration wounds had already begun healing themselves thanks to the power of the Speed Force. The WALlie now stood before the Crimson Knighfall, out of breath and sweat visibly collecting along her brow as she looked down upon her fallen opponent. But she didn't notice it until it was too late. His eyes opened and his gun was brought up from the ground, clutched tightly in his hand as he took aim at her, his eyes filled with the same rage she surging through her own body. His finger pulled the trigger and a single bullet was lunched through the chamber and out the barrel as it came flying right towards Nova's chest. Zoe quickly lift her left hand upward, her speed force reaction allowing her to have increased reflexes as she once more used her power in attempt to create a wall of fire before her, to melt the bullet before it could lodge its way into her chest. But she was in such a weakened state, that didn't happen. Instead the bullet partially melted, but broke off into three separate pieces during the collided into her flame. The firs piece embedded itself into her left forearm that was instinctively protecting her face, the second part of the bullet launched itself into the right side of her chest and between her rib cage, burring itself into her lung, causing not just a pneumothorax (collapsed lung) but also pulmonary edema (fluid build up in the lung), all while at the same time the last portion of the bullet lodged itself into her upper abdomen, piercing through her liver.

Her feet took a few strides backwards as she cried out in pain as her breathing began to sound like crackles coming her collapsed lung as it began to fill with blood. "Damn it!" she yelled before heaving a heavy cough, blood tinged her lips as splatters of her blood scattered along the ground. Breathing heavier than before she took the steps forward to be standing before Cassius once more, but she couldn't stand anymore, she dropped down to her knees at his side as her blood stained teeth clenched upon one another. "You b@stard." she gargled in her own blood as she brought her right fist up and began to bring downward towards his face, not once or twice but three times, trying to slam her fist into his teeth. Her breathing was becoming more tachypneic with every moment as blood continued to ooze not just from her mouth, but her abdomen and forearm. Just as the lacerations on her body began to heal, she was wounded again, and this time more severely than before. The Fire Goddess eyes glowed once more as she extended her right hand towards the Lone Knightfall, her eyes this time giving a deep crimson glow. Her fingers twitched, her own blood staining upon them as she used her ability to place thermal heat into living beings. What Zoe was attempting to do was overheat Cassius cerebrospinal fluid in his brain to try and cause a mind crippling seizure.