Crystalline Constellations

S2 E9: Endgame (Finale) [Part 2/2]

All went extremely quiet in an instant at the moment when Germany struck the blow to Keates' face, the blow which had concluded the endgame of their fight that had just been occurring, as the punch was so immensely strong that it caused the latter mentioned one to land about 9 or 10 meters away from the former. The blonde country knew he was pretty strong - he did regularly exercise his arms with dumbells and he was ripped as a result, but for a moment or 2 he couldn't fully believe he'd managed to land a punch of such a strong magnitude. It obviously just went to show that people were capable of doing jaw-dropping things when they had the correct type of motivation, with this particular motivation being the prospect of putting an end to the cruel madness that Martin had allowed to follow in his wake this evening.

It took a little bit of time, but the darkest-haired one out of all 3 of them there in that wheat field slowly began to try standing back up on his feet, making Jenny's breath hitch in her throat and Ludwig's teeth to clench tightly together. What if the event which had just happened wasn't enough? What if Keates' cybernetic implants inside his arms and legs were strong enough to make sure he would never be defeated this soon, and it would take a lot more than just a strong punch in the face to bring about his downfall, even if that punch was enough to send him flying several feet away?
But they soon found these worries of theirs silenced as, although he did stand up for a few seconds, breathing heavily from all the action, his legs soon gave way underneath him due to the exhaustion coursing through all of his veins being too strong. Having no other choice, he fell back down on his knees in amongst the wheat, giving in to the nagging urge of his legs screaming at him to rest. His hair was still dishevelled like it was a minute beforehand, except now it was even more so, the rolled up sleeves of the white blouse beneath his waistcoat had a few small dirt stains on them and were torn in a couple of tiny areas (with the waistcoat itself also having some of the same type of stains), a corner of one of the lenses on his glasses was cracked, and his right arm which Jen had cut deeply with her sword was absolutely caked with blood. Additionally, there was blood ebbing out from a small but fresh wound on his left cheek, presumably caused by the punch, and 3 wires were poking out of the arm wound by a tiny fraction. 

At this moment when he crumpled to the ground, not having the strength to fight anymore, one certain fact raced through the minds of the European nation and the mousy-haired British woman:

It was over. 

Leaving his enemy there on his knees, Germany remembered the presence of another person a short distance behind him, and so he turned around and approached this other person, also being sure to keep half an eye on Keates at the same time to make sure his exhaustion wasn't just a great big trick. 

"Are you alright?" The muscular Hetalia character knelt down to her level as she was sat down, holding out one of his hands for her to take. His tone of voice had now changed to suit the current atmosphere around them, which was one of tranquillity and the calm after the storm. 

"I'm not completely sure, but I believe so for the most part." She immediately regretted replying verbally instead of just nodding her head, because the part of her neck where a couple of minutes earlier Martin had tried to strangle her and had very nearly succeeded in killing her experienced an intense, stinging feeling whenever she spoke. Jen accepted his outstretched hand, grabbing on to it and letting him help pull her up onto her feet. His hair was rather uncharacteristically messy in some areas, one or 2 strands of his pale hair dangling in front of his forehead, his arms had a few grazes and cuts dotted around on them, and his face was playing host to a couple of bruises. 

Ludwig had noticed the expression of pain on her face when she answered his query, so he picked up on what the most likely cause was and asked her, looking at the top of her neck where it was visibly red even though the sky was growing darker by the second, "When does it hurt?"