Fusion

24. The End All

My time has come. I am to face death for the first time, but not the last. I raise my fists as Purge swings his right arm with all his might. Predicting the attack, I raise a shield up in front of me, and it stops his fist, but he shatters the shield into dust. I then thrust concrete up from the ground, stabbing a rocky spike through one of his legs. He yells in pain before I slug him in the stomach. He then jerks his leg to the right, breaking the concrete off the ground, but still leaving part of the shard in his leg.

He grunts in pain before morphing his right arm into a metal hammer. He then quickly backhands me with his right arm and knocks me back into a car. I crash into the car, denting the side, and smashing the windows. He quickly runs towards me with hypersonic speed and rushes a fist towards my face. I lean my head to the side and he dents the car with his fist, leaving knuckle imprints on the door.

"Let's go for a run," I tell Purge, and then dash away from him down the road, leaving nothing but a blue trail of electricity behind me. Purge follows me, running almost at my speed, leaving a red residue behind. I'm sure the only thing keeping him from catching up to me in an instant is the large rock in his calf, fortunately for me. We both run as fast as we can, me trying to keep away from him, and him trying to catch me. We throw up winds and speed through the city at thousands of miles an hour. I circle back and run to where we were before, trying to tire Purge. He catches on and halfway there he finally catches up for a split second. All the time he needs. He jumps into me and tackles me to the ground. We slide from our sudden break of speed and he punches me across the face at the speed of lightning. I push him off of me and blast him with a bolt of electricity. He stumbles back and I blast him again. He falls to the ground and I speed away to the battle.

He quickly gets up and follows, before tackling me again a few yards from Violet. I hit the ground and my head hits the asphalt, sending me into a daze. The thud ripples through my mind creating an ambiance of ringing in my ears. I look to my right as I lie on the ground, the world reshaping itself back to normal. Violet lies there, her eyes closed, her elegant face tainted with dirt and bruises. I can't give up now. I bolt up and tackle Purge onto the ground. We struggle, our hands grappled and his eyes glowing with red intensity. He flips us over, him gaining the upper hand, and then places his hand above my head. I grab it with both my hands and try and push it away, but his power is almost boundless while mine dwindles with each hit he lays on me. He charges up crimson energy in his palm and his hand begins to glow with red, raw, power.

Just as he releases the blast of swelled power, a beam of dark indigo strikes him and knocks him off of me, causing his killing blow to miss. My ears ring as the crackle of energy was louder than a gunshot. I jump to my feet and look behind me to see a familiar, yet unexpected face.

Shadow smiles at me, his body covered in cuts, bruises, and bullet wounds. He shines his teeth at me and speaks, his hands charged with a purple flame. "The cavalry has arrived." Standing beside him are Tidal, Ironclad, Cryogen, Olivia, and Fireworks. Olivia looks at me through her mask and gives a reassuring nod. She glances at Violet's lifeless body and feels part of the same brokenness I do. She gives me a look as if saying, "There will be time to grieve later. I'm sorry." Almost immediately, they rush into battle and Purge regains the strength to stand up. He wipes blood from his mouth with his hand and clenches his ribs where he took a blast straight from Shadow. Not even Purge could take it. Fireworks vaults a fireball at Purge, who rolls out of the way of the blast. The ball of fire strikes the ground, causing a miniature explosion of inferno. Olivia blasts a ray of golden energy his way and he is struck by it and is knocked back onto the ground. He stands up and tries to avoid using too much energy.

Cryogen throws an array of icicles towards Purge, who forms a shield of frost in his arm that blocks all, but one spike, which stabs into his side. He yells in pain and hits Cryogen with a blast of fire. Cryogen hits the ground, the fire burning his chest, searing him. He screams in pain and sprays himself with ice to put out the blaze. He succeeds but is more hurt than even I. Then Tidal vaults his spear at Purge, trying to catch him by surprise. Purge leans to the right as the spear passes him and he grabs the chain. Purge yanks on it, pulling Tidal towards him, and grabs him by the throat. He begins to quickly drain the life from Tidal, slowly rejuvenating himself. Ironclad shapes his arm into a sword and runs to slice Purge with it. Purge drops Tidal to the ground and ducks under his huge slash and then blasts Ironclad in the back with a sweltering ray of fire. Ironclad yells in pain and hits the ground, his back orange from heat.