The blade, fueled by the last sparks of his dual laws, passed through her neck without resistance.
Time seemed to freeze.
Subject #009's head tilted. Her golden eyes, wide with impossible shock, looked down at her own body, at the hole in her chest still crackling with dying energy, at the headless torso that was still standing.
Then, she fell. Her body hit the melted stone with a heavy, final thud. A moment later, her head landed beside it with a soft, terrible sound.
The invisible wind threads still in the air dissipated into a faint sigh. The oppressive pressure of her presence vanished.
Nero stood over her, swaying violently. His left arm hung limp, the energy gone from it, burned and blistered from the inside out from the point-blank explosion of power. His right arm was a bleeding, useless ruin. He looked down at the headless body of the Storm Mage, then at his own broken hands.
