The dust was settling around the battlefield, there were no movements. Our eyes were focused entirely on the pillar that had buried Lady out of sight.
As for Grim, he didn't move an inch. But the gaping hole in his chest and the carcass of his burst heart lying on the ground, didn't seem to have much effect on his vitality. He wasn't healing either, contrary to what I was expecting. Blood loss didn't seem to have any meaning either. But in his case, blood was as thick as pitch, so it didn't quite flow out of him either.
"Lubbock, get moving", Chopper instructed him.
Receiving this command, Lubbock sprang up and walked up front of the barrier that was holding us up. His eyes then made a whirring voice and seemed to be moving his lenses all about to get whatever it was that he was trying to get in focus.
"Well?", Chopper asked after his eyes were geared up and doing their job.
"Blood loss...hemoglobin is down to 9.8..."
"Well, she's always been a li'l anemic. What else?"
"Magic energy is wavering. Temperature is constantly rising...a little...too much. At 130.98 and rising. Magic energy concentration is too high. Its rising exponentially."
"Oi just cut to the chase a'ready!"
"She'll break the 5% threshold", Lubbock said in a somber voice.
Chopper gasped slightly, with a weary look on his face.
"Her body is healing itself a little too rapidly. This is only the beginning but it might stabilize. But if we're out of luck, she'll go berserk this time, for sure", Lubbock concluded his observation.
Everyone looked towards Chopper for further instructions but he remained tightlipped. Faced with the dilemma of jumping into the battle or letting Lady exceed 5%, he seemed to be struggling to make a decision.
With Chopper, I always noticed that even when faced with difficult decisions in the most perilous situations, he was always able to make rational choices. Even when no such way existed, he was never at a loss. Knowing that things won't go good for him, he wouldn't delay the inevitable. He didn't mull over decisions. When rationality didn't bring out any option, he would just go ahead and get it over with.
But, for the first time, he was completely uncertain. Perhaps because too much was at stake already. And although things looked dire, we all had this common feeling that there was still a way to save everything. As for tracing that optimal path, it was all left on Chopper's shoulders.
Just as we all awaited Chopper to make a decision, there was movement in the battlefield.
The pillar moved slightly and tilted to a side, but just barely. Our attention was averted back to the scene.
Then, in an instant, the pillar shot flying straight into the sky. The unbelievably heavy object disappeared far away into the unknown space with one blow.
A new wind seemed to have taken over the battleground, as if the recoil of shooting the pillar up, caused the ground to sink, a strange gravity overataking it.
And in the midst of it all, stood Lady, with her feet firmly planted into the ground. She was stark naked but thanks to the lightning sparks engulfing her and our distance from her, none of us caught any considerable glimpse of her battered body. There was a hint of blood on her head, though.
Grim must have gotten a close look at her, that's why, even though his bare chest was sticking out with a hole in it, he still found the humor to grin at her.
"Is she...?", Lubbock's eyes whirred again quickly to get a close up of her unveiled stature.
Deli intervened and smacked the literal dirt out of his brain. Lubbock momentarily zoned out, failing in his perverse attempts.
"Sight", Chopper looked stern as usual. He was still thinking about the decision that needed to be taken.
Nodding, Sight delivered Lady's fur coat to her, in a safe barrier much like ours. Lady might have anticipated the decay of all her clothes, when she gave up her beloved fur coat to the raging tornado.
Her back was facing us but she lifted a fist in the sky to let us know she appreciated the timely delivery of the fur coat.
The final round thus began. It was complete havoc. Both Lady and Grim held nothing back, focusing solely on destroying the other.
It happened in the blink of an eye. Grim covered the ground underneath her feet and the sky above his head with portals that swirled out those massive pillars. Avoiding them was one thing, but by swirling counterclockwise, the portals turned into black holes. In the midst of it all, he stayed afloat untouched.
Lady was faster than before. She fed the pillars to fhe black holes, creating complete chaos. It was impossible for any of us to keep track. Only Lubbock, who had now recovered from Deli's smack, witnessed Lady's movements. He geared his eyes to keep track of her. And I could tell he was absolutely blown away by whatever it was that he was seeing. I say blown away but he was feeling fear in reality.
That was enough to tell me that there was something unbelievable in the battlefield. For someone such as Lubbock, who was filled with artificial emotions, not able to know fear until this moment, impossible to impress or move in any way...this was a defining moment. This might have been the first time he felt any real emotion.
"Chopper...you feel this...right?", Deli asked, beads of sweat forming on her forehead.
Chopper's eyes were wide in shock, "She...crossed the threshold."
The time for decisions was no more. Now we had no choice but to let this havoc unfold.
I wish I could tell you what exactly was happening but before we knew it, there was a new hole in Grim's chest. He'd taken his robe off down to his waist already so we were able to see clearly.
Before he himself was able to figure out where it had come from, a third hole appeared in his stomach. He was throwing up pitch black blood, while new holes kept appearing all over him.
One by one, his organs were getting dragged out of him and all he could do was vomit blood. It looked about as gruesome as you can imagine. It would have been one thing if Lady just deprived him of his insides but the way she was showering it all around the battlefield, was enough to make one hurl.
Grim's insides were soon splattered all over the place. His portals all disappeared and so did his pillars. Now he hung midair, with much of his ingredients lost. He looked like a husk but he was very much alive, even riddled with gaping holes like that.
Lady came to a halt too, standing before him, smeared in his pitch like blood. Her eyes had a strange glint that showed no mercy.
"This truly...", Grim's voice barely escaped, "...was fulfilling."
"Out of strength, finally? I had to shave off quite a lot of you, dear Grim", Lady smirked.
It was a depressing look that all of us inside the barrier carried.
"You are certainly my...", Grim began but broke off, noticing his blood all over the place, "But...what you don't understand is...I have nothing...and a void has nothing to run out of."
Saying so, he lifted his scythe up, with his battered self barely making it possible. His scythe glowed a sinister glow, all too enchanting at the same time.
Not willing to spare him another round, Lady shot up towards him, intending to rip out some more of him. We couldn't see her again.
Next when she came into vision, she was right in front of Grim. More blood dripped onto the ground and mixed up with the old one. This time it was crimson.
Grim's scythe was impaling her, right through her back and out of her stomach. Blood trails found their way out of her mouth.
Grim's outgrown hair flew on his back, as he held Lady by her waist with one hand and the other held the scythe impaling her. Lady , wide-eyed, at as much a loss as the rest of us, heaved her breathing out of herself, trying to utter something but failed.
Dumbfounded, we all watched the spectacle in complete silence.
There was a certain uncaring yet gentle aura about Grim, like a reaper guiding a soul he has reaped to the final resting place.
"Now then, let me show you the world I promised. A world that doesn't exist yet."