The Custodes

Chapter 31 - Betrayal

Quinn
Quinn, Kelsie, and Milo stood in a small clearing they'd found in the middle of the forest, waiting for Noah to arrive with Zuro. The three of them were all on edge, but there was no backing out from what they'd signed up for. With Axel and Synthia having abandoned them the group was less than confident that they had the necessary means to defeat Zuro - at that point their biggest hope was stalling him until Neo arrived, since he was the only one besides Axel who'd seemed to actually deal any damage to Zuro. That was Quinn's thinking at least; whatever was going through Milo and Kelsie's heads she had no clue. "Kelse, I think you should wait by the trees." Quinn said to the girl, looking around at the clearing they were in. There wasn't much in the way of cover, but it also wouldn't take too long to make a break for the trees if need be. As for the clearing itself, there was literally no more than a large, overturned tree and a few dots of brush, in amongst leaves and sticks which crinkled under every footstep. "If Zuro knows how your powers work, and he's playing dirty enough to attack Neo in his sleep, there's a higher chance he might go out of his way to hurt you." Quinn said, mostly rambling to herself aloud, but as she turned and saw Kelsie's pale, sickly expression she hurriedly flashed her the most genuine smile of reassurance she could "But me and Milo won't let that happen. Or Noah. Just...wait by the trees. And keep yourself safe." The girl gave the smallest of nods, before her eyes scanned the tree line and she moved to stand away from the pair, though close enough to keep a watchful eye on the scene. Quinn let out a sigh, before turning to look at Milo "I'm nervous." "Me too." The man replied almost immediately, sucking in a breath as he wiped his hands on his shirt "But we're right in it now. Let's just hope we can end it." "We will end it." Quinn said with confidence, her words serving to reaffirm both her own motivation and hopefully Milo's too "We've all got each other's backs. So we'll do it." Milo looked at her, his gaze lingering for a short second before he looked off towards the trees "Yeah. That we do."

"Everyone prepared?" Neo's voice came through the comms not much later, as Milo sat on the fallen tree while Quinn stood waiting patiently. The man shot up right as Neo spoke, but Quinn replied before he got the chance "Yeah. The second Noah gets here we'll be ready." "Kayla how long we got?" Neo went on, being strangely quiet as he spoke to the group. "A minute." The girl replied, being just as quiet as Neo. The atmosphere in that apartment must've been pretty fucking tense. "Get ready." Quinn looked over at where Kelsie was, making sure she was prepared, however she failed to see her anywhere amongst the trees. It was strange - she knew the girl had just been somewhere in that direction, yet now she had apparently left without any sort of trace. "Something's wrong." Kayla's voice came through the comm,  the exact thought that had entered Quinn's own mind a second before. Her hand rose towards her ear, about to press the button to respond, only for her entire limb to freeze in place. Quinn's eyes widened as she tried with all her might to move her arm a single inch closer, but no matter what it didn't budge in the slightest. Her breath suddenly caught in her throat as she tried to shout out, every fibre of her body sending off alarm signals at what was happening, only for her to realise than none of her breaths were either leaving or entering her throat. She couldn't even choke as the oxygen left her body, leaving her to claw at her throat with the hand that wasn't frozen as she turned around to begin frantically looking for Milo, or the source of her suffocation. That was when she saw Nexus standing on the body of the felled tree, one hand resting inside his pocket while the other pointed straight at her. Quinn's eyes travelled downwards, where she spotted an unconscious Kelsie laying in a pile of leaves right in front of the tree, then over to the side where Milo - Daigo - stood casually, not the least bit bothered by both Quinn's horrified, asphyxiating expression, or Nexus' presence. "You reach for that comm, you lose a finger." Nexus said with a monotone yet commanding voice, like he was speaking to a bug who's life he could squash out in an instant "You whisper a single word that sounds like a spell, you lose more than a finger. You escape - somehow - and..." Nexus' hidden hand slowly left his pocket and pointed down straight at Kelsie's head, as his expression remained dangerously neutral through it all "...you won't be the one who pays the price. Understand?" Quinn felt the pressure in her head building, pounding at her skull like she was on the verge of blacking out as her face took on an awful shade of purply blue. She nodded her head quickly, hardly even considering any possible options to escape and instead just trying to stop herself from dying in that single instant. Nexus held on for another second or two, before his hand loosened its grip and let Quinn fall to the floor, where she immediately began spluttering and gasping for breath, her throat burning at the sheer volume of oxygen she was tried to get to her lungs. She heard a distant voice - not directed at her, she knew - but her head was ringing so much that she was struggling to make out the ground in front of her, never mind what sort of conversation was going on around her. "...God, I don't-...-but he knew!" She vaguely started to make out Milo's words as she continued sucking in air, only to realise that it was coming directly from the device in her ear rather than the man himself. Quinn dragged her head up to look over at Daigo, seeing him speak emphatically into the comm while Nexus stood right beside him, unbothered. "What?!" She heard the three from the apartment reply all at once, followed by Neo's shouting "Milo, we're coming there right now!" "No, no, Quinn and I can take him!" Daigo replied, meeting Quinn's gaze for the first time since Nexus had begun choking her. If it hadn't been clear before, his expression there and then told her everything she needed to know. It was almost sympathetic, but with a stern acceptance of what needed to be done. He had betrayed them; and it'd been his plan since the very start. Without even thinking about Nexus' earlier threat Quinn raised a hand to her ear, ready to activate the comm and tell the others that 'Milo' was against them, and that they needed to get away before he, Nexus and Zuro arrived and took them out with ease. Before her finger even came close to reaching the button on her earpiece, however, it was ripped clean off her hand in a spray of blood, which splattered across the side of her face as an invisible beam separated the appendage from her palm. Quinn opened her mouth to let out the unbearable agony that came with it, but her mouth was suddenly sealed shut as Nexus kept his hand pointed at her - allowing Daigo to continue fooling their teammates, unperturbed. "He knew our plan somehow, you need to be on the lookout for Zuro. We'll come to you when we've dealt with him, just stay alive till we do!" The man delivered every line with an incredible sense of unrehearsed panic, but as soon as he was done he let his shoulders slump and exhaled exasperatedly, waiting for a second as he listened to Rose talk through the earpiece. "Zuro's made his entrance. That's it." Daigo told Nexus, taking out his earpiece and tossing it to the ground before looking over at Quinn - right as her mouth was allowed to open again and she screamed out in horrific pain, doubling over against the ground and clutching the stump on her hand tight against her chest. The metal device in her ear was quickly pulled out by an invisible force, before it was sent flying far through the air towards the trees. "Did you really need to-" "I warned her. I don't make threats just for the sake of it." Nexus said coldly to Daigo, who raised his hands in surrender, before starting to walk towards Quinn "Now...onto the only reason I haven't killed you yet." "Don't you come anywhere near me!" Quinn screamed, backing up across the forest floor whilst still holding her hand, hoping that the pressure she was putting on it would somewhat ease the searing pain from it. She knew her life was essentially forfeit now - Nexus' brutal tactic of slicing her finger clean off had convinced her that the person she might've loved wasn't there any more, suppressed under a mountain of walls and false personas. "I need Axel and Synthia's address. Give me it, now, or it's another finger." Nexus said as he continued to approach her, which actually made her stop in her tracks as her gaze panned up towards his menacing figure. "Why? Why would you need that?" Quinn asked, staring at him, only to flinch back fearfully as he raised his hand "Just answer the question! Why?!" "Zuro has asked me to wipe out all of you. And I intend to deal with all of you...except her." Nexus' gaze shifted over to Kelsie's limp form, before falling back on Quinn once again "In return for what she did for me. She's the only one who'll make it out of this alive - assuming you play nice - but by the time she comes to her healing powers won't do much good I'm afraid." "Nexus." Daigo said, coming up behind the man and placing a hand on his shoulder, half turning him around to gain his attention "The siblings they-...they aren't fighting with them. We can leave them be, they've given up hope." "Daigo!" Quinn shouted, turning to man's attention away from his friend as her eyes burned with a furious hatred "You fucking God damned evil, lying, dirty little bastarding cock sucker of a SNAKE! I hope you fucking burn in the deepest pit of hell! Everything you said to me back at the apartment - everything you've been telling me and the others for these past THREE MONTHS - has been an utter, traitorous fucking lie hasn't it?!" "Pretty much." Daigo replied, though even he seemed somewhat discouraged by the ferocity with which he was being attacked "But I tried to offer you a chance. If you'd said yes to joining Nexus things would be different right now - I tried to make you see." "And what, have me betray the others?! The people who are relying on us, who trusted us out of the goodness in their hearts to fight for the right side!" Quinn yelled, a new, infuriated fire burning in her that overpowered the fear, pain, and crippling defeat she'd felt mere seconds before. "I got into this knowing what the outcome would be." Daigo said without any remorse, talking like she was a child who couldn't comprehend why he would do what he did "Nothing that happened between me and them ever counted for anything. It was all a facade." "You're lying! YOU'RE LYING! Think about it - think about everything! The spars, the days in training, the times at Kelsie's, Synthia!" Quinn watched as Daigo's features twitched at that final name, causing her eyes to slowly widen with stunned realisation. Unfortunately for her it seemed Nexus had noticed it as well, speaking to Daigo before she even got the chance to. "What is she talking about?" He asked, his brow furrowing slightly which was the most emotion Quinn had seen him express up until that point. "Nothing. I don't care about Synthia in the slightest. I just don't want there to be any unnecessary violence, that's why I think we should leave her and Axel be. They aren't opposing Zuro, he doesn't-" "They're both threats." Nexus interrupted, dismissing Daigo with a wave of his hand as he turned back to Quinn, who instantly grew fearful once more despite holding her ground where she was "And Zuro was very specific; he wants them both dead. So Quinn, I'll ask again. Address." "If you think I'm giving any of them up you're a fucking moron." The girl spat, with Nexus doing little more than shrugging before he raised his palm towards her hand once again. Daigo caught his wrist however, causing the man to turn right towards him and flash a very dangerous, irked look. "Listen...this is idiotic. If you're going to kill her, kill her. And leave the siblings be. Torturing her is pointless - you heard her, she won't give them up." Daigo said somewhat quietly to Nexus, though Quinn could easily make out every word. "Daigo, I know this isn't what you want." The girl began talking to him, looking at him seriously and ignoring the increasing ire emitting from Nexus "I don't know why you're doing this - out of loyalty, maybe - but it's all wrong. The others care about you, they believe in your friendship with them. Synthia trusts you, tell me nothing worthwhile happened between the two of you!" Quinn was honing in on the only thing she saw as a way out of the situation. Whatever feelings Daigo held for Synthia, that was the only weakness she'd uncovered that could be used to her advantage. If she could turn him against Nexus then there may be another way out of this - she just had to go all in. She watched as Daigo's expression shifted - whatever was going through his mind, there was no doubt that he'd stopped viewing the situation in the linear way he had been. "Listen, the others don't know. We can take Nexus like you said, and go help them deal with Zuro. We don't need to-!" Quinn suddenly realised her excitement had gotten the better of her. She'd almost forgotten Nexus was actually there - that is, until one more finger on her hand was suddenly sliced off, causing her to scream once more as the unbearable agony of the second injury merged with the first. Quinn's head pressed against the forest floor as her teeth ground together, tears welling up in her eyes as she grew unable to do anything other than convulse and writhe in pain. She let out quiet, almost sob like gasps as she squeezed her eyes shut, until Nexus suddenly grabbed her hair and yanked her up until she was on her knees. Her eyes looked up at his blearily, and even as tears fell down her cheeks she tightened her jaw and glared up defiantly into his eyes. "Last. Chance." Nexus said slowly and deliberately, holding her still by her hair as his other hand moved to hover his palm directly in front of her face "Address. Or I will kill you, here and now, and go torture one of the others to find them." Quinn's gaze flickered over to Daigo, who refused to look at her as blood spilled like a waterfall down her hands, forming a puddle in amongst the leaves and twigs on the ground. "Daigo." Quinn spoke firmly, looking right at the man even as Nexus pressed his palm hard against her forehead. "Don't even try it. I swear I'll blast a hole straight through you." Nexus said coldly and threatening, but Quinn knew what she had to do. There was only one thing left, one thing both she and Daigo knew, that she could possibly use to try and turn him. Saying it aloud would undoubtedly result in her death, but she had to bank everything on the very, very slim chance that she might make it out of here alive. She looked at the man's conflicted expression - sensing how torn he was inside - and that was when she steeled her resolve and submitted herself to her fate. "Daigo." She said once more, her stubbornness to get across what she wanted gaining the man's attention this time. He looked at her, stunned, and fully expecting to watch her die in that instant, but for some reason Nexus held off her execution for a further second - and that was all she needed. "Why haven't you told Nexus you know where they live yet?" As the words left her mouth Quinn felt herself grow lighter than air. It was a feeling that she knew could only be achieved by abandoning all care for ones own life - even if Nexus sent a beam through her skull there and then, she'd done it. Everything had been put on the line, and all that could come next was the reveal that her plan had either completely succeeded, or failed miserably. She saw Daigo's eyes widen instantaneously, not leaving her face even as she peered at Nexus and watched his fill with just as much surprise, before switching to confusion as he turned his head to look right at his friend. Things seemed to be moving in slow motion once the question had left Quinn's mouth, but the instant Nexus and Daigo's eyes met, and they saw each other plain and clear, that suddenly changed to moving too fast for Quinn to comprehend. Daigo's hand hit Nexus's side - or maybe it didn't - and the next thing she knew a blast of ice had practically engulfed one side of him, hitting him so hard it sent him flying clean through the air, so far that Quinn couldn't make him out when she tried to look at where he'd gone. A second later white crystalline filled Quinn's vision, before it shattered and she found herself in a completely new area of the forest - another clearing - with Daigo right beside her. "No, no!" She immediately shouted, jumping up even as she clutched her hand and spilled blood all down her clothes "We need to go back, we can't run away! Kelsie is still there!" "Can you take Nexus in a fight?!" Daigo rounded on her, stunning her into silence with his suddenly no-bullshit attitude "I didn't think so..." The man's eyes glanced down towards Quinn's mangled hands, and with a small pang of guilt flickering across his face, he quickly formed a layer on top of both her finger stumps in order to stop the bleeding. "We can do it if we work together." Quinn told him, her mind racing too fast to comprehend what Daigo had just done, before she closed her eyes to think for a second only to nod subtly to herself "Manenk. Rukpy. Nyeagc. Gixupa." Her eyes flashed purple with each spell she casted, her throat gaining a faintly purple glow, only for a second glow to suddenly latch onto Daigo's chest and stay there. Her eyes flashed gold afterwards, which is when she suddenly let out a gasp and grabbed Daigo, yanking him to the ground alongside her as a whizzing sound fired right above their heads. The tree behind them exploded, having been hit with one of Nexus' beams, as Quinn hurriedly stood back up and scanned their surroundings with an unimpressed glare. "Gixupa." She whispered, her eyes flashing gold once more, only for her head to snap in a certain direction and wait for another attack. Nothing came however, so she immediately began casting the same locating spell over and over again. "Gixupa. Gixupa. Gixupa. Gixupa." Her head snapped to and fro rapidly, her gaze scanning numerous different locations, only for her to curse and look over at Daigo "He's fucking moving around, keep your eyes open. He seems to have a learned a few things in these past three months." "Back to back, quickly." Daigo said, as Quinn hurriedly obeyed - standing back to back with the boy as both their eyes looked for any sign of Nexus. They both listened out, waiting to hear any sort of incoming attack, but nothing came for the next few seconds. That is until Daigo spotted a flash of movement over by one of the trees directly ahead, hearing the whizz of Nexus' beam a second too late. It collided with the left side of his chest, directly where his heart would be, and caused him to stumbled back into Quinn at the sheer force. The beam never penetrated his skin however - as Daigo looked down he saw that his clothes were pushing hard against his chest, a tight, slightly round ditch being formed under some immense, invisible pressure. What Daigo didn't know was that that pressure was Nexus' beam itself, and the only reason it hadn't pierced his heart there and then was because of the shield Quinn had cast around him earlier. It was still attempting to hit him though, and in an instant Quinn knew her shield wouldn't hold, thinking of as quick an alternative as she could. "Cazgapk!" She shouted, trying to pull Daigo back to avoid the attack, however it still deflected upwards from the shield right as it shattered it entirely, slicing cleanly through the top of the man's shoulder. He let out a shout of pain, gripping his shoulder as Quinn hurriedly casted another spell. "Cifa!" A large, purple, see-through dome suddenly appeared around her and Daigo, engulfing a few trees but ultimately running undisturbed around and above them in a good ten metre radius. "I don't think this dome can hold his attacks, we need to think of a plan quickly." Quinn said to Daigo, her eyes scanning the forest even as her next idea came to her. "Zimanebyk" She whispered to herself, hoping she'd be able to pull of a fairly extreme stunt, only for her eyes to flash purple as she suddenly gasped and spun on Daigo "Move!" Her hand lashed out and she pushed him with all her might, throwing herself in the opposite direction. Daigo took the hint and let himself drop with Quinn's push, right as Nexus appeared in mid air, slashing lethally with an arm obviously coated in his powers at the exact spot both their heads had been in a second later. The instant he was there, right in front of her, Quinn took the chance to put a constant locator spell on him while she had the chance. "Rukpy!" The second the word left her mouth a purple glow shot towards Nexus and attached to his chest, the exact same way it had Daigo earlier, allowing Quinn to see the man's exact position even as he teleported to somewhere across the forest. "We've got him!" She shouted to Daigo, pulling herself to her feet as she felt Nexus move around the forest. No matter where he went, or how many times he teleported, the purple glow would stay tightly on his chest - only able to be removed by Quinn's command. "I can see where he's gonna attack from, stay as close to me as you can." She instructed to Daigo, who had essentially been letting himself be dragged about by Quinn since she was the only reason he was still alive. "Get ready...the second he shows up, attack him. Don't hesitate." Daigo gave a firm nod at this, as Quinn began turning her head wherever Nexus went as quick as her body would allow. She didn't fully need to - since the tracking spell allowed her to simply know his movements wherever he went - but it would make it far more likely that she'd be able to pull off her next trick if she was facing him. The dome was still up, which meant he was still likely holding off firing any beam attacks from a distance. The only other thing he could do was to come in close once again, and with the locator on him Quinn would be able to identify exactly where he was coming from. There was a tense silence for a good half a minute, with Nexus teleporting around repeatedly seemingly to throw Quinn off, but in a split second Nexus was suddenly close - too close - and instantly swinging an attack. It wasn't at her, however, it was once again at Daigo, who Nexus had evidently deduced as the one who couldn't see his attacks coming. That was exactly what Quinn had wanted however - in the next second her hand was outstretched behind her, brushing against Daigo's side and splaying right as Nexus moved to throw some sort of attack she couldn't see. Luckily for her she didn't need to see it to negate it - all she had to do was splay her brutally mutilated hand and shout a single word "Jabuka!" Whatever attack Nexus was going to had been dissipated away entirely before he could realise it. Quinn turned her head just in time to see his hand fall harmlessly against Daigo's neck - so it was a decapitation attempt, once again - and for a second it seemed like nobody was planning on moving. But Daigo had heeded her instructions, and he'd heeded them well. His fist shot out in a blur, cracking violently against Nexus' face with so much force it sent the man flying backwards, skidding across the forest ground until he came to a stop just before the purple barrier. Quinn peered down at Daigo's hand to see it was deeply embedded with sharp, outstretching white crystals, which had now been splayed with deep, crimson blood. She looked past him at Nexus, who lay unmoving in amongst the leaves, then spoke quietly to Daigo just before he had the chance to move forward "Wait...he's still dangerous. I don't think that hit did it." Her suspicions were confirmed as Nexus' hand shot out towards the pair again, clearly going for a surprise attack as he feigned being unconscious. "Jabuka!" Quinn yelled again, her hand thrusting forward again as she once more completely negated one of Nexus' deadly beams. No more came after that, but the man didn't seem to be interested in teleporting away either, instead slowly rising to his feet as he looked at the pair with a menacingly amused grin. What made it particularly scary was the huge, gushing gash in his face now there thanks to Daigo's hit from the crystals. It reached all the way from his temple down to just below the side of his lip, causing blood to stream down one side of his face despite his humoured expression. "Look how quickly you turned. Suppose loyalty is harder to come by than I previously believed." Nexus spoke, his gaze boring into Daigo as he waved a hand over his wound, resulting in the blood immediately ceasing to flow. The cut could still be seen clearly, so deep that Quinn could've sworn she could see through it into Nexus' mouth, but it almost looked like the blood was being held in place by an invisible force - obviously Nexus' powers. "I won't let you touch Synthia." Daigo stated, his voice so steady than Quinn almost thought he was having some other conversation than the one currently at hand. "Three months, Daigo. You've known that girl for three months. How long we known each other?" Nexus asked, spreading his arms slightly as though trying to appeal to Daigo as he spoke, though his fingers made slightly peculiar motions. "This is about more than just you and me, Nexus. Things are different now." Daigo held his ground, with Quinn silently cheering him on despite still being cautious about the fact that he could turn on her any second. The man seemed very fucking fond of spontaneously changing sides - she had to be careful. And if she had to leave him behind to get her and Kelsie out of there, then so be it. "You didn't seem too bothered about selling out the others before I mentioned Synthia." Nexus said, still looking as amused as ever, like his conversation with Daigo was little more than a fun pass-time for him "What if I said I'd let the girl live? You can re-join the winning side, if you help me kill Quinn right here and now." Quinn tensed behind Daigo, peering up at the back of his head. There was no way for her to see his expression - he could very well be grinning with Nexus, knowing there was no way the girl would be able to take on both of them. Daigo slowly shook his head, yet it seemed to leave Quinn even more sceptical about what he was wearing on his face at that time "My eyes are open now, Nex. I've picked the side I want to fight for - join us, or you'll go down the exact same as Zuro." Nexus' smile seemed to widen slightly, his sadistic appearance only being enhanced by it "Sorry. Old habits and all that." There was silence for a second, with Daigo and Quinn merely staring at Nexus, who stood perfectly still. Then, in a single instant, the man was gone once more. Quinn's locator told her exactly what she needed to know however - and with cat like reflexes she ducked down, narrowly dodging Nexus' side kick that he threw in mid air. She was expecting him to disappear exactly how had previously, after throwing only one attack, but what she hadn't anticipated was that there would be a follow up - in the form of a slicing hand aimed right for Daigo's neck. Nexus used his momentum from moving through the air to attack with incredible speed, but apparently Daigo had learned from all the times Quinn had controlled where he dodged. The man was already half turned around, and with his instincts heightened by Hector's training he was able to raise a hand, cover it with crystal, and block Nexus' hand in a single instant. Next came the moment of truth - whether Nexus' sharp atom manipulation would be able to shatter Daigo's ice or not. The two men's hands collided, only there was a space between where Nexus' met Daigo's ice, exactly where his powers were forming a makeshift blade. The crystal held strong, and in the next instant Quinn pointed her hand at Nexus, getting ready to fire off the first attack she could think of. "Re-" Unfortunately for her Nexus had already anticipated some sort of attack from that direction. His other hand reached around his side, pointing right at Quinn and suddenly sending a wall of air directly into her, cutting her off mid spell. She flew far, luckily not reaching the tree line but still tumbling on the grass, slightly winded by the hit. That was when Daigo and Nexus took the time to properly clash. Daigo had spun as soon as Quinn was hit, his fist immediately forming into a large shard of ice which he attempted to thrust straight into Nexus' neck. The man narrowly dodged however, tossing his body back just in time as Daigo's hand moved through the air in front of him. He then took the chance to slash upwards with his hand, conjuring the outline of a blade along it once again as he tried to slice his former friend's arm clean off. Daigo was quick enough to will the ice to crawl further up his arm however, causing Nexus' attack to bounce harmlessly off of it. Nexus then threw his other palm towards Daigo's side, blasting him with a huge wall of air to send him sliding back across the ground. Daigo braced, stopping himself from going too far, to seemed to irk Nexus slightly for reasons unknown. He threw another wall, knocking the man slightly further back, then another, however Daigo was smart enough to thrust his hand down against the ground and conjure a huge wall of ice of his own. Nexus' walls now collided harmlessly with Daigo's shield, causing the man to curse under his breath. Just then, however, his attention was turned away from the man as Quinn's voice shouted out not too far behind him, with her running across the clearing straight towards him. "Zema!" She thrust her hand forward as she spoke, which suddenly caused an enormous, churning ball of flame to fire from her palm and spiral through the air straight towards Nexus. The man didn't seem the least bit perturbed by the attack however, simply waving his hand in the air and conjuring yet another wall to block the ball. Only after doing so, it seemed, did he realise that the ball was nothing like what he'd thought it was before. As it travelled across the grass at an extremely high speed the landscape directly below it seemed to grow darkened and charred, like the ball was instantly burning away all greenery despite being a good few feet above the ground. That must've meant it was insanely hot, which of course it was, but that wasn't the trick Quinn had been hoping to pull off with it. Nexus, in that single instant before the ball of fire reached him, suddenly grew tense as he thought of the possibility of the ball not being stopped by his conjured up air barrier. Firstly, it came from a spell and could very easily hold magical properties, and secondly, it was no more than a burning ball of gas, therefore maybe his tightly-packed atom shield wouldn't stop it. The split second instinctual concern that flashed through his mind was the sole reason he didn't lose the fight there and then, as right when the ball collided with his barrier he threw himself to the side, out of the way of the attack. And he was certainly lucky, because exactly what he had feared had come true - as in the next instant the ball of flame billowed right past him, completely undisturbed by Nexus' attempt to stop it. A second later and he no doubt would've been disintegrated there and then. Unfortunately for him, Nexus was nowhere near as lucky as he thought. He'd successfully dodged the attack, but the ungodly heat that came with it was something he couldn't escape. His body felt like he'd been thrown straight into an active oven, but it was his right side that had gotten it the worst by far. Instantly the flesh from his hand to his shoulder sizzled and broiled as bubbling blisters ran all the way up, the clothes there disintegrating immediately. The skin turned a horrific shade of red with dotted white, then suddenly crisped to black starting at the elbow - the area that had been closest to the fire - and travelling a couple of centimetres up his arm. For a second the pain was so great it didn't seem to register with Nexus - instead he just stared at his arm in awe - until suddenly it hit all at once and he screamed horrifically, convulsing on the ground in agony. Daigo moved from behind his ice wall, hearing Nexus' unholy cries that would give war veterans nightmares. "Jesus Christ, what did you do to him?" The man asked, his face growing pale as he stared, disbelief and appal worn on his face, at the flesh on Nexus' arm - which was now a colour that no one's skin should ever be. "I-...I didn't-..." Quinn herself was staring in shock at the man, stopping mid-sentence from admitting that she hadn't known what the spell would do. Instead she tightened her jaw, watching the boy she used to love tremble violently on the ground as he let out guttural wails to try and shut out the mind-numbing pain he felt. "I-...did what I had to." Quinn said instead, trying to steel her resolve despite the way her hands visibly shook by her sides. She was horrified in ways she couldn't describe - at both her own power and the newly imprinted visage of Nexus' tortured state that would no doubt stay with her until she died. She wanted to throw up, but she had to make sure that the fight was over. Once she made it through everything, then she could throw up all she wanted, and cry at the notion of the unutterable and unforgivable pain she inflicted on another human being. But at that point, Nexus was still alive. And the part of her brain that was still very much in battle-mode told her that an alive Nexus was a dangerous Nexus. Suddenly, the man's screams grew slightly quieter until they were little more than whimpers, before they ceased altogether. He was laying in the foetal position on the ground, but he began to move until he was face down - his scorched arm dangling by his side while the other clawed at the dirt in some sort of pain-suppression attempt. Daigo and Quinn were both instantly weary, standing a little more on edge in preparation for him to try any sort of move. He slowly stood further up, facing away from them, but judging by the way his body tensed and shook noticeably Quinn knew he was still in an unbelievable amount of pain. Neither she nor Daigo made any move, despite the fact Nexus was now fully standing up - instead waiting to see what he intended to do. If he continued to fight they were sure they could take him now, but they were both hoping that wouldn't end up being the case out of what seemed like pity. Instead, the man did something neither of them would've expected in this life or any other. Nexus raised his working hand up slightly, level with his opposite shoulder, then suddenly slammed it against his mangled arm, cutting cleanly through it until his hand stopped just before reaching his side. Quinn watched in horror as the man's arm flopped off of his shoulder, landing on the ground with a small thud without spilling a drop of blood as Nexus suddenly let out a deep, prolonged sigh. "That's much better..." He mumbled, loud enough for the pair to hear, before he pointed his other hand at the arm and began to levitate it back up to the stump now formed just above his bicep. The arm was suddenly back in position, allowing Nexus' to drop his free hand and leave it attached to where the stump had been not a second earlier, before he turned around with the tiniest, most disturbing smirk Quinn had seen in her life. That was when she realised what he'd done; the pain had been so immense that the only way Nexus thought he could escape it was by cutting off his arm completely. And now he had essentially pinned it back on, using his powers to hold the completely loose limb in place. Since he was now facing her Quinn could see that a decent portion of his face had been badly burned as well, however it was nowhere near the extent that his arm was. It matched perfectly with the grotesque gash on the opposite side, and in that very moment Quinn didn't think she could imagine anything remotely close to resembling a monster to the extent that Nexus did. Another realisation quickly dawned on the girl; if Nexus was reattaching his arm but saving himself from the pain, that meant there was only one plan he had set in his mind. To go on fighting. It seemed that not only had his body grown into that of a monster's, but his mind too. There was no one else who, with injuries like his, would even be considering jumping right back into a fight, but here he was - eyes locked onto her with a hateful menace that only a tortured soul could posses. "Stay down Nexus." Daigo warned, raising his hands to get prepared for another attack, having likely come to the same conclusion as Quinn "End it here. You don't stand a chance." Nexus didn't say anything, but his smirk widened ever so slightly and before they could do anything to stop him, he disappeared completely. Quinn knew what was coming - when was he going to learn that she could feel every move he was making? She dropped to her knees immediately, with Nexus' blade coated hand slicing just over her head. She sensed his leg raising, causing her to suddenly throw herself to the side and narrowly avoid it from crashing down on her. Without a second's hesitation she spun on the ground so she could face him, her palm outstretching and pointing at him to throw another attack. Before she could however, she suddenly realised that Nexus' only hand was moving in to point directly at her head. At the very last second she moved her hand up in the way of the attack, negating it just as Nexus fired at her skull "Jabuka!" She lashed out with a foot towards Nexus' leg, attempting to sweep him, but he managed to jump over just in time, spinning on her rapidly. Her movement gave her enough time to lunge to her feet, raising her hand once more to meet Nexus' only working one. "Jabuka!" His beam was negated once more as their palms moved mere inches apart from one another, before Nexus swung his foot towards her head with a growl. She ducked once more, her hand coming up to point at Nexus' side, only for the man to suddenly grab hold of it and point it off course from him. The girl didn't have time to make any sort of move before Nexus fired beam straight through her arm, causing her to cry out in pain as blood burst from both sides of the piercing wound. She quickly moved to raise her other arm up, but Nexus turned and kicked it back down with his foot, causing Quinn to gasp before he suddenly dragged her towards him with the grip on her bleeding arm and slamming his knee up into her stomach. On impact, Quinn knew right away that she'd been hit with far more than just Nexus' knee. The blow pierced her flesh, continuing all the way out the back of her body and causing her to wail at the horrific sharp pain that filled her. Nexus had conjured an invisible spear on the tip of his kneecap, and that was what he'd driven into her abdomen - stabbing her straight through and holding there for a few seconds. She looked into his eyes, shocked and scared, but there wasn't even a remnant of the man she once knew inside. Instead, he looked pleased - like he'd gotten revenge for what she'd done to his arm - and there was no other emotion held there for her. He retracted his knee, grinning all the while with his marred face, until a sudden blast of ice hit him dead on, causing him to fly sideways as Quinn dropped to the grass. Daigo couldn't stop to ensure Quinn was okay, instead running straight for Nexus to continue hitting him with a barrage of attacks. Quinn was on her back, straining to look down at the rapid pool of blood forming beneath her and bleaching her clothes. She wasn't like Nexus, where she could just seal any wounds and continue fighting like it was nothing - she had to heal herself and she had to do it fast. She took a fleeting glance in the direction of Daigo, watching as he attempting to hit Nexus with numerous projectile attacks. Nexus was too quick and too strong for that however, even with only one working arm. He either dodged or blocked all of the attacks, but he didn't seem to throw any back, instead seemingly waiting as Daigo ran straight for him. Quinn didn't understand, but she couldn't worry about it at that point. She hovered a hand over the gaping hole in her stomach, whispering "Mankima." before starting to feel her injury slowly heal as purple light shone from her palm. She had to wait there while the spell did its thing, so she looked back at Daigo and Nexus just in time to see the moment the pair collided. Or almost did. Daigo immediately threw a punch at Nexus' head, which the man moved in order to dodge, only to follow it up by uppercutting his other fist into his abdomen. Quinn thought the attack had landed at first, but then she saw Nexus' only functioning arm in front of his torso, allowing his hand to catch the attack with a wall of air. Before anything else happened however, Nexus dropped the wall - the momentum of Daigo's hit already gone - and grabbed the man's wrist, instantly teleporting the two of them away. Quinn shifted, her head rapidly looking for where they had gone whilst remaining on the ground healing herself, until she saw them over by the scorched grass where they had been position earlier - when Nexus' wall of air collided with Daigo's ice one. Nexus tried to throw the man back as soon as the reappeared, but he moved a single foot back and braced, stopping himself from moving. At that Nexus moved back and flicked his wrist before Daigo could even react to his movements, hitting him with a wall which actively caused him to stumble back. The wall didn't disappear after that however - instead Nexus kept his hand pointing at Daigo and used it to continue pushing the man back. With no way to fight it Daigo was slowly being carried along with the wall, his feet dragging through the grass as he tried to figure out some way to escape. Quinn didn't understand what was happening. Why wasn't Nexus trying to kill him while he had the chance? He seemed so set on pushing him to a certain spot - roughly where Nexus had been standing after Daigo hit him in the face. He was up to something, Quinn could sense it. The girl tried to think, not sure what she could do while her wound was still healing, before a sudden idea dawned on her that might just confirm her suspicions. "Najna." Her eyes began to glow a faint purple, and suddenly she could see exactly what Nexus was doing with his powers. The wall pushing Daigo became completely visible in an instant, being outlined in a faint purple as Quinn got a full view of the atoms Nexus was manipulating, forming a slightly crude and oblong shape with the edges very faintly defined due to how little time was spent actually forming a complete shape. After all, all he needed was the area that was pushing Daigo, but it was still large enough to account for any sort of movements he would make to get away from it. Quinn wasn't interested in the wall however, instead her eyes locked onto the faint shimmers of purple behind Daigo, sitting harmlessly still in mid air. From what she could see it was three rings, formed from Nexus' powers, with one horizontally flat, then one below and slightly right facing vertically, and another below that further on the left laying horizontally once again. They were far less prominent than the wall still pushing Daigo closer and closer to the rings, and Quinn could only guess that that meant if you touched them you wouldn't be able to feel any trace of them. But what were they for? Quinn was about to call out to Daigo to warn him of it when the wall suddenly ceased completely, leaving the man standing roughly a foot in front of the mysterious rings. Daigo didn't hesitate to throw his hand down and conjure another ice wall, cutting Nexus off from him, but the other man simply grinned like he'd won the lottery and pointed a hand at Daigo through the barrier. Quinn had a view of the man behind the ice, and watched as he suddenly began to choke on nothing, clawing at his neck as Nexus held him in place by his throat. That was when the girl stopped messing around - she knew Daigo would die without her help. She sat up despite her wound still being in its last stages of healing, and without hesitation threw her hand towards Nexus and shouted "Zema!" Once again, the incredibly hot, incredibly dangerous ball of flame flew from her hand and billowed directly towards Nexus. A part of Quinn screamed that she was a cruel, heartless bitch for even trying to use the attack again, but another part told her that she wasn't actually trying to hurt Nexus with it. She knew he would teleport again - likely right over to her - but all she needed was for him to drop his grip on Daigo. Nexus saw it coming, but he didn't move right away. His hand thrust further out, knocking Daigo back until he was perfectly in line with the rings, before he dissipated away and reappeared right beside Quinn, instantly trying to stomp on her chest with an obviously enhanced foot. Quinn didn't need her new sight to know there was a blade on the bottom of his foot, but the purple outline of it narrowly approaching certainly helped her brain to move at a faster rate. Thinking purely on instinct she shouted out a spell while pointing towards Nexus, her single focus being on getting him as far away from her as she could "Rejy!" The man flew back across the clearing at an incredible speed, being hit with a crazy powerful blast of wind at the last possible second. Quinn had felt the blade attached to his sole pierce her chest, but luckily it wasn't big enough to be too much of a bother at that point. Her eyes moved back to Daigo instantly, where she saw that he was trapped in the spot Nexus had moved him too, struggling hard against invisible bindings. Except they weren't invisible to Quinn. She saw as the three rings held him firmly in place, now completely solid instead of being vaguely outlined. One was wrapped tightly around his throat, which was being clawed at by one of his hands, while the one just below held his other arm tightly in place just below the elbow. The lowermost one was around his right knee, leaving him stuck firmly in place with absolutely no way of knowing what was holding him or how to get out. Quinn suddenly realised exactly what Nexus had done; he'd created the rings whilst talking to her and Daigo, and ever since then he'd been trying to get the man into position. And now that he had, she knew instantly what was going to come next. After all, those bindings were a little too tight to just be used for detainment. "JABUKA!" The spell left her lips before the thought to cast it had even rendered in her mind, as she aimed her hand at Daigo with the desperate hope to save him before Nexus recovered and activated the rings. Relief flooded through her as she watched the ring around his throat disappear completely, only for her to realise the next instant that the other two still remained. Her eyes widened in horror and surprise - surprise which caused her to hesitate casting the spell once more for a single fraction of a second. "JABU-" Quinn cut herself off as she suddenly saw Daigo's limbs explode in a rain of blood, the rings cutting easily through his flesh and guillotining half of his left arm and right leg off in an instant. Daigo let out a single, guttural cry of pain, matching Nexus' one from earlier, before he fell to the ground and lay completely still, having passed out from either shock or pain - or dead - Quinn had no idea. She stared, unblinking, before her gaze turned to Nexus and met his chuffed, smug grin. An odd calmness washed over her as soon as she saw his expression - like she'd abandoned the side of her that still held some humanity and was instead focused on her one, single goal. Putting an end to that sick creature's life. She slowly pushed herself to her feet, standing up straight now that her stomach was healed, however her arm still bled badly from where Nexus had gotten her. The amount of blood she'd lost should've been making her woozy at that point, but due to the overwhelming amount of adrenaline surging through her body she didn't feel the effects in the slightest. As calm as ever she waved a hand over her arm, muttering a quiet "Mankima." as her healing slowly began to work on the gaping wound. Nexus pushed himself back to his feet as well after being on the ground from Quinn's blast, but he moved slowly and confidently as though he'd already won the fight. He'd had it all planned out - now that Daigo was out of the picture, the little surprise he had for Quinn could be used to its full extent. Nexus' own adrenaline was slowly starting to cease, since he believed his own victory was assured, but that brought back the unbearable pain he felt right where he'd cut off his arm, as well as both sides of his face. He was a lot worse for wear, and he knew he would pass out soon from the pain - whether he'd wake up again after that, he wasn't fully sure. All that meant was that he'd have to end this with Quinn fairly quickly - something he knew he could do easily - then run off to find that healer girl and force her to mend him back to health. Quinn, on the other hand, wasn't looking anywhere but him as she walked over. She was very, very far from being as confident as he was in her victory, but she would be damned if she didn't put every single ounce of her being into this next fight. It was the end - the stakes had never been higher. Either she wins and lives, or loses and dies. No in between. No more switching sides. Nexus, upon watching her approach began to walk towards her as well, with the distance between them quickly growing smaller and smaller. "Look at this. You and I, alone on the battlefield. Who would've guessed this would be how it ended." Nexus spoke meticulously, every word flicking off his tongue like that was the only thing he was focused on - and not the girl staring him down ready to try and end him. "You'll regret that dirty trick. I'm going to kill you for it." Quinn said to Nexus, her voice having lost even the slightest of quivers as she spoke like she'd never been more sure of anything in her life. "Really? What if I offer you one final chance to join me?" Nexus pondered, watching her with amusement as they continued walking closer and closer. Ten metres, then nine. "It'll be in vain." Quinn answered simply, causing Nexus to let out a laugh as he stopped in his tracks, still a good few metres away from her "Yeah, well, the option was never really there anyway." "Zema!" Quinn's fireball fired directly at him before she'd even stopped walking, but Nexus had more than expected some sort of surprise attacked. "That's enough of that." He said as he materialised far to the right of the attack, still grinning smugly as he looked at Quinn "I'm curious. How are you going to attack me-" "Nyumx!" A sharp, purple, spear-type object fired straight at Nexus from Quinn's hand, flying so fast it was next to impossible to see it coming. Yet still, Nexus had easily predicted it and teleported right behind Quinn "-if you can't cast your silly spells." The girl spun to face him, only for Nexus to point his hand right at her and cause her to choke on nothing. She tried not to let the lack of oxygen get to her at first, even trying to utter one final spell, but she didn't seem able to get any sort of words out as she began frantically clawing at her throat. Nexus let out a manic laugh, clearly extremely amused at this, before the laughter grew even louder and more hysterical while Quinn suffocated in front of him. "After that fucking fight you put up I really didn't expect you to be beaten so easily." Nexus said condescendingly, his laughter ceasing insanely quick as he realised just how lightheaded it was making him feel. He just had to retain his persona for a few more moments - Quinn's final moments - and then he could let the pain get to him. "I mean look." He went on, shaking his shoulder to make his completely blackened arm dangled lifelessly in the air "Made me cut off my own fucking arm." Moving the shoulder had been a bad idea. His injured stump rubbed against the limp arm still attached and filled him with so much pain he almost wanted to scream. But his resolve had been so steeled over the past three months that he remained cocky and boastful even as his thoughts started to tumble off into an almost incomprehensible babble of how much pain he was in. A few more seconds, there was no way she could last much longer. He moved closer, standing right in front of Quinn as he looked into her eyes, his hand still raised so she remained choking in front of him "I'm just glad I got the chance to repay you for it. Goodbye, bitch." Quinn's eyes met his as she still struggled for breath, seconds away from suffocation, before she flashed him the quickest of winks and sucked in a rapid breath. Nexus was in such disbelief at what he'd seen that he thought he'd imagined it, only for his eyes to widen in shock and horror as he noticed Quinn's neck flash a faint purple - so faint that he hadn't been able to see it from a distant. Before he even had time to react to how obviously unaffected she'd been by his choking, Quinn shouted a spell with all the air she had as her arm sliced upwards towards Nexus' torso "WYAGU!" A purple blade suddenly surrounded the outline of her hand and forearm, which immediately cut clean through Nexus' stomach all the way up to his ribs in one fell swoop of her arm. It continued, even as Nexus retracted his arm in shock, resulting in four of the fingers on his only working hand being sliced off in an instant. The man screamed out, stumbling backwards as he clutched the wound on his stomach while Quinn stood, scowling at the bleeding mess of a man. "You and Daigo aren't the only ones who can act." Her voice was cold, collected - Nexus had been beaten and both of them knew it. But still, despite the horrific injury that had been inflicted upon him, Nexus tried to fight on, conjuring a blade on his foot which he sent straight towards Quinn's side. "Rejy!" She shouted, long before his foot came anywhere near her, sending Nexus flying straight through the air towards the trees, where he collided violently with one before coming to a halt. His head smashed against the bark so hard that he immediately knew it was bleeding without even needing to touch it, causing his vision to dim slightly as his eyes grew unfocused and hazy. His thoughts were muddled like nothing else - he didn't even think to get up, instead just laying limp against the tree before sliding to a sitting position. Slowly, his eyes peered up to see that Quinn was in front of him, the blade on her hand still gleaming purple as she pointed it at his head. He sat - completely at her mercy - with no possible way to either attack her or defend himself, and in that moment he couldn't bring himself to form even a single word. Nexus was a broken man. Still, his mind was trying to understand how she'd beaten him the way she had, but he knew that didn't matter. All that mattered was that she had won, and that meant his time was up. His head fell back against the tree, his eyes looking up at her with a deathly, hollow, and entirely remorseless gaze, before they slid closed. And he was ready to die. Quinn's hand hovered in front of him, not trembling in the slightest, and she understood his thoughts perfectly in that moment. Death; he was embracing it. She pulled her hand back, her jaw tightening as she looked at the shattered, beaten man, before her bladed arm shot forwards straight towards Nexus' head.