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Jesse stumbled trough the particles as vertigo fell over him, up and down feeling the same, mind fuzzy as he wasn't even sure if he was standing or still falling falling falling trough the rip of space. His sword threatened to slip from his grasp, his hand numb from the glove, whatever energy pulsating trough it slowly frying his nerves. Moving the sword to his other hand he gasped and choked as he adjusted his stance, frost burn eating itself trough his left leg, the metal of the armor fusing into his skin and tearing at every movement.
The echo of a chuckle filled the room, the space, it canceled out every thought in Jesse's brain as it bore itself deep into him. “Whats wrong Jesse? You are not looking too hot there.” multiple voices spoke to him at once, taunting him, all repeating the same thing in a deafening tone. Red light bleed into the darkness as the Admin appeared, a beacon like a lighthouse, warning Jesse of his impediment doom if he does not turn around.
Blood seeped beneath his armor as the grip on his sword tightened, his course was set, there is no going back. Jesse would either struggle trough the waves and come out victories, or crash on the shoreline in a gruesome death.
The two started to circle each other, the Admin taunting him by forming into his friends, Petra and Jack, and himself, and the bright light blurred, and for a moment Jesse questioned if he was witnessing the admins powers failing or if it was just a side effect from the head wound dripping blood into his eye.
“It could have been easy, you never HAD to fight me.” The Admin monologued, multiple weapons switching in his hand before finally deciding on a classic sword. “But YOU, you just HAD to be difficult. You know, it was cute in the beginning” The many forms shrugged casually, a domino effect delayed trough the many forms making his head ache trying to concentrate. “But it lost its charm.”
And with that, he attacked. You know, the other forms, the giant and the snowman, they were more gimmicks. A notch to the trip down memory lane, just a little fun. But the fun is over, its serious now, and Jesse had to face the fact that he was not only fighting one of the most powerful beings there is, but also the warrior of the group. The strikes were hard and merciless, intended to kill quick, the swords clashed with sparks, the shock of power spiking up Jesse's arms as he tried to parry.
He succeeded in dodging and parrying the first barrage of attacks and as his opponent started to circle him again he took a deep breath. He wouldn't be able to win, not like this. Not with how hurt he is. All he needed to do was get one more punch with the gauntlet in, it didn't matter if he was skewered in the process, it didn't.
With newfound strength steadied his stance, sword raised towards his opponent, his trapped fingers in the gauntlet flexing, ready to attack. Jesse would give his everything, even if its the last thing he does.
Another breathe, before the Admin went in for another strike, Jesse dodged, jumping to the side, the tip of the sword grazing his face like the feathers of a parrot that flew too close. He didn't feel the warm blood dripping down, down, down his chin, smearing the once white armor into a mocking bright red. The moment of the other turning to him was when Jesse striked, bottling all his rage into the sword as he lashed out, slicing trough the air but merely catching fabric as the admin too dodged the attack, the many forms blurring into one was he rolled to the side and standing again in inhuman speed.
Jesse glared, huffed, as he re-did his stance, the forms smirked, unnatural and wide on his friends faces.
There was no warning as the admin charged forward, a blur of red as the blade swung from his back right into where Jesse's face was. The hero tossed himself to the side, his leg giving out under the constant pressure and he sprawled to the floor, sword clanking as it slide away from him.
Bad, bad, this is bad. His breath quickened, air getting stuck in his throat as his leg buckled beneath him, barely managing to sit up. It only took a few seconds, until a blunt force knocked into his face. All he heard was a crunch as he flew on his back, smoothly sliding across the tiles.
Jesse's whole face was numb, he couldn't breath and blood filled his mouth. Too blunt for a weapon, he dimly noted somewhere in a part of his brain that wasn't knocked loose yet, the admin muster kicked him while he was done. He choked as a mixture of spit, blood and teeth flooded down his throat, body sizing up in pain and pure panic. It took his last strength to flip himself over, hacking up the fluids beneath him, the shrill ding of his teeth overshadowed by the deafening steps of his doom approaching.
A sob escaped him as he struggled to lift himself up, he failed, he failed them all. “Now Jesse, I didn't expect you to be quiet this pathetic.” Tutted a voice above him, a weight settled on his right arm, Jesse's eyes widening, terror shaking his very body.
The boot of the admin came down hard on Jesse's arm, heel crushing into the bone as the fallen hero screamed. Trough the haze of pain he could make out a chuckle as the boot lifted from his limb for a moment, as if to admire whatever damage was done, but it was just the beginning.
“You MADE me do this Jesse,” The Admin started darkly, heel connecting to limb once more, a sickening crack accompanied by a scream. “THIS” crack “IS” crunch “YOUR” cronch “FAULT!” quwelch.
Jesse whimpered and panted in pain, vision a sick pink as blood mixed into his tears, the gauntlets powers still soaked trough him, whatever nerves still connected vibrating in agony. He couldn't move it anymore, not more than a pathetic twitch of his skin. His left arm, fingers clawed bloody on the floor tried to desperately push him away, as if it would do any good, as if he would get far. Bloody streaks left by him as he scrambled to push his weight even an inch.
A hand wrapped around his arm, just below the gauntlet, the touch almost gentle as it softly lifted his battered limb. Jesse sobbed as the familiar weight of the heel settled on his shoulder blade. He didn't know what caused him to look up, red blinding light washing over him, as the Admins golden eyes bore into his. Endless gold, like the sun, just as bright to look at too. He'll never see the sun again, he knew that, Jesse wasn't stupid, wasn't too far gone to forget his own mortality. Tears streaked trough the blood on his face as he pretended he was looking into a beautiful red evening sky instead of the face of his killer.
The admin didn't move a muscle in his face as he tugged on the limb, foot holding Jesse's body on the ground, the nerves and muscle snapping apart at the already damaged area. The fallen hero vision blurred, fading in and out of consciousness as the sound of his own body breaking filled his very mind. Was he screaming? He didn't know, his body fought the separation, muscles around the bone stubbornly holding on. The grip slackened, the foot readjusted, he had no chance to scream as a powerful tug teared his limb apart. Slack jawed he watched, the moment so bizarre to his sight it felt like it happened in slow motion. His body numbed, blood gushed out of him at an alarming rate. Breath on the verge or maybe already beyond hysteric he turned his head, watching the golden light of the gauntlet loosing its strength until it grayed out. Once down, the limb was carelessly dropped to the ground, and the Admin, form now stable again, no more rogue colors blipping in and out of existence on and around him turned his full attention to the dying hero.
“Actually, I need to thank you Jesse.” He sounded so happy, as he keeled down next to him, an innocent smile on his face, only ruined by the bloody nose Jesse managed to sneak on him earlier, the blood no more a colorful array and instead a pitch black like ink, staining his pearly teeth and soaking into the goatee. “You showed me a lot in our little quips we had, I'll make sure to remember this next time.”
The sound of fabric swishing was the only thing Jesse could focus on, sight fading in and out as the blood loss caught up to him. Moving his head felt like trying to move bedrock, sluggish, vision blackening if he moved just an inch. A weight settled on the back of his head, pressing him gently back to the ground as a whimper escaped him.
“Goodbye Jesse.”
He felt nothing as the hit came down, his body surrounding itself into numb oblivion as the aching stopped. It felt, so good, Jesse could've cried of relief if his skull wasn't in the process of being broken apart. Yet, all he could think about was his friend. Where they mad he failed? Disappointed? Would their death be quick or slow? He loved them all so much, he hoped they'd forgive him. He thought about his fallen friends, he thought about Reuben. He hoped-
The skull gave out with a sickening crunch, the Admins boot tearing trough the soft matter of his brain like sand on a beach. Romeos breathing just a tad too frantic for his own liking as he starred down at what remained of his best champion so far. Mindlessly he swiped the back of his hand below his nose, succeeding only in spreading the glossy black blood more, as he floated up into the air, pieces of brain splatter and skull sliding off his boot. Surely, this all just proved that letting the normal people live in free will without intervention was not the way to go. Yeah, he'd do better next time, he already had quiet a few ideas, but first, he'd need to make sure his dear friends didn't leave anymore nasty surprises for him to find.