> Do we have any extra charge?
> If not, play the dodging game.
> If so, go for the hands.
> Inventory.
>You're out of time. Literally. It'll be another minute until you regain access to your powers; using Time Clones in the middle of Time Stop results in an increased cooldown.
>This is going to be a fun minute...
>All you have left is your one fighting dagger.
>With only a flick of her fingers as a warning, the shifting frost descends in a deadly hail.
>Your knife lashes and slashes out in a blur while you dodge the attack. It's definitely dense...but you've been getting better at this. A lot better at this. It's almost a trivial task, finding the few projectiles that actually have a chance at hurting you and killing them before they even reach...
>It ends in a moment. Sheer instinct is the only reason you even block it; she swooped in out of nowhere and sliced at you with a long, slender blade of ice while you were distracted by the projectile attack.
>"Hooo...? Someone who can actually put up a fight? You might be able to keep me amused for a while, human~"
>Another blade forms in her other hand. Somehow...you feel yourself grinning.
>Straight thrust to the gut...parried by a quick chop, then respond with a right hook. That's dodged and met with a slash from the left, but your knife has already flashed back to meet it and swipe at her wrist. Once she's blocked it, you make to stab at her but her leg sweeps up, carrying its own blade...!
>But it's already dodged; you throw your head back at the last moment and watch in vague fascination as a single hair is split straight down the middle.
>You recover in an instant and lunge forwards, but she's recovered as well and meets your lunge with her own. The two blades grind past each other, both of your weapons sailing past each others' head...your left hand comes through in a vicious left straight, plowing straight through to her gut, then the pommel of your knife slams into the side of her head.
>She gasps in pain, and you think for a moment that it's over...but she grits her teeth and spins violently with countless icy blades sprouting from her form; you're forced to leap back to dodge.
>The ice wielder narrows her eyes at you...then forms her ice into a long, deadly lance.
>Once. Twice. Three times she makes the spear's head dart at your own head with fatal speed, and three times you swat it away with your knife. But each time attempt to close the distance, she brandishes its honed edge and forces you away. Troublesome...
>Both of you dance back and forth, prodding defenses until you find the inevitable opening...but you've played this game before. You wait, and wait...all you have to do is find that opening, or wait until the timer ticks down...
>She overshoots a stab, and in a burst of adrenaline you grab the spear's shaft with your free hand and slash out violently with your dagger. She wrests the weapon away from your grip and awkwardly blocks, destroying the weapon while managing to ensure her own safety. As she hops backwards to make space, you smirk as the final seconds before you end this drain away...
>Pain shoots up your arm. Cold, sharp pain. You only just notice that she's in front of you...and she's stabbed you.
>Too fast. Suddenly she's too fast for you to respond. You can barely defend, barely even gather your wits together fast enough to even reach out to Time...dammit, you're still too weak after all?!
>...no. You were never too weak. You're weak
enough...weak enough to see what's really there!
>She slices at your eyes, but you've already seen through that ruse! The weakness in her attack...it's too fast, too hasty, too obvious!
>You block the attack with your knife...and then slam your fist into her other arm, which had been launching an attack at your heart. It diverts and flies past your side, and in a split second you plow straight through with a kick, sending her flying.
>This isn't over yet. Not by a long shot.
>Somehow she seems to notice this...and you feel the temperature drop immensely.
>"Tch...as fun as this is, my sister awaits...so die!" she spits through grit teeth.
>She slams her hands into the ground. Winter's very essence explodes forth in a vast lotus shape, making it impossible to approach. You backpedal as the ice formation grows larger and larger...the ground begins to freeze over, and spikes begin to surge out of the ground to strike at you. Tch...your timer clicks off the last second, but you lack an opening to use it on. And though the pain is somehow numbed, you feel yourself begin to grow dizzy from blood loss...
>Your instincts scream. Something flies out from the sidelines and slams into the impenetrable defense, exploding and shattering a hole straight through. Your eyes avert to see the wounded Captain emerging from the forest line, supported by the private while toting a newly emptied M203. "Take her out kid!" he yells.
>No need to ask twice.
>"This..."
>Time creaks to a standstill.
>You're already running. Moving. Slipping past barricade after barricade to reach the mastermind within...your fist buries itself into her gut, then your foot slams into her shin before arcing back to slam the heel into her chin. As you flip over her, using the ice girl's own shoulder as a platform, you feel a bit of nostalgia...it's just like that one Phantasm.
>You flip over in the air, foot descending into a brutal axe kick that throws her to the floor. Partially.
>The inner wrestler in you cries out in a manly scream as you leap once more into the sky and end it with a drop kick.>"...Is over!"
>It's a sudden burst of violence that completely throws her off guard. The conflicting currents of heat and cold only just begin to reach you as she's thrown haphazardly into her own ice, groaning for a moment before slipping into unconsciousness.
>The ice around you melts away into nothing but a vague presence of power.
>You feel the warm embrace of exhaustion take over...your knees begin to give out from exertion...
>...but it feels like you've forgotten something...
>...Blonde hair...and a glimpse of cold steel...?
