“I’m here, Phoenix,” Jin said in her ear as Kira surged forward. “The Tin Man has arrived.”
The ceiling burst, raining hunks of rock on those below.
Finn grabbed Raider and covered his body with his own. Alexander stepping in front of both to shield them.
Kira’s breath sounded loud in her ears as the distance between her and the stage two narrowed.
It turned to face her, those whips reaching for her.
Music blared as Jin shot out of the cloud of dust, his outer casing lit up with a white-hot glare of manifested ki that matched Kira’s own.
They charged the stage two, their thoughts and bodies in perfect sync.
One step. Then two. A meter and then another.
Jin screamed as he flung his ki outward.
The world turned white, blinding as Kira drew her arm back. She slashed forward, releasing the ki she’d built.
It wasn’t the burst—but it was close. So close that the two could be cousins.
Jin’s ki collided with Kira’s, wrapping around it and adding to the destructiveness.
It hit the stage two, incinerating the arm he lifted and half of his torso.
It created an opening.
Jin dove, every weapon Kira had installed on his casing firing.
Lasers blasted into the stage two’s body. Projectiles following a second later.
The akieri bit into the stage two’s side. She twisted, searching and finding the seed.
She felt it crack.
Kira ripped the sword out, plunging her hand into the wound the instant it was open.
Still, the stage two wasn’t done, reaching to stab Kira’s chest with its claws.
Alexander caught his arm, yanking it back as he wrapped a hand around the stage two’s neck from behind and squeezed.
Kira touched the seed as Alexander bared his teeth and ripped, yanking out the stage two’s spine.
She did the same to the seed an instant later.
A laser fired from Jin, hitting the seed and destroying it with a finality that felt almost surreal after the battle they’d just waged.
The light in the stage two’s eyes extinguished, the glowing lines on his face and torso burning out in the next second.
With a yell, Alexander ripped the stage two’s head off and spiked it into the ground.
Finished, he glared at Kira, his breathing fast.
Kira held still, conscious of the fact that a single wrong move could trigger an attack.
“Devon!” Jin shouted, not noticing or not caring how on edge Alexander was.
He zoomed in the dome’s direction, forgetting about Kira.
