Chương 40: I can't stop now

Grim hesitated, her blade an inch away from a killing blow. She could read the fear in Hazel's eyes, scared of what she'd been about to do, as if Grim was the one who'd betrayed her. Maybe she had. At the moment, it didn't matter, they would figure it out later, but this needed to end, and if she had to kill Hazel to stop her from sacrificing herself, she would. Hazel's eyes flashed as both of them came to an agreement in a moment, Grim's blade was wrenched upwards as she tried to rip out her throat.

Grim looked down to see a wooden prosthetic attached to Hazel's side, replacing her missing arm.

"Seriously? You've got to be shitting me," Phil said.

"End this, kid, I don't have much left!" Her knife was stuck to the hilt, buried into the wood of her prosthetic arm. There was a cracking sound, and then they both turned to see a root sharpened into a spear, barreling towards Hazel. Before Grim could rip the blade out, the wood expanded and ate it. Freeing up Hazel's hand to grab the root, its momentum stopped an inch from her face. Shards of wood shredded both of them as the sheer force she grabbed it with, destroyed it.

Grim launched a right hook, and while she knew the damage it would do would be nothing more than inconvenient. With [CEDE] it was enough. They were both back in the terminal room, staring at each other. Neither of them spoke, they had said everything they'd wanted to say. Hazel hit Grim in the face first, but she rolled with it and hit her back with a hook, sending her reeling. She stumbled back a step, and before she could recover, Grim hit her with another jab, knocking her head back.

She caught a glimpse of a bloody smile, but she already knew what Hazel had done. Grim was ready for it, she knew how Hazel liked to fight. She'd almost always take a hit if it meant she could get her own in. She just needed to be ready for what came after. It was a side hook to the chin that Grim blocked with a shoulder roll, which also stopped the body shot that came right after. Hazel tried to transition into a takedown, but Grim ripped her into a clinch.

She wrenched Hazel to the side, then delivered a knee to the face hard enough to knock her out of the room. Seeing she was alone, she wasted no time and sprinted to the terminal and thrust her hand in. Reaching to grab onto [SHADOW VESTIGE] but when she pulled her hand out, Phil's copied boon came out instead and cut her connection to Hazel, sending her back into the real world. Grim stumbled back as the new sense she'd gotten from the Boon overwhelmed her.

Plant matter was everywhere around her, buried beneath and in each corner of the room. Living plants were sealed into every wall, the Boon forced information on each and every kind into her brain. Which ones were poisonous or their medicinal effects, how far they could stretch, their strength. She pushed away from it all, and it took her a moment, but she got a handle on the information and was able to ignore it enough that she could function.

Phil wobbled where he stood, fighting to stay upright, while Hazel strained against her restraint. The prosthetic she had was now on the ground, useless to her. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Grim ran forward and punched her in the face. Hazel hissed in frustration as she spat out a spurt of blood and strained harder, uncaring of Grim's presence. Grim punched her again, and the process repeated. Hazel would get hit. Heal. Hit again.

Until Grim heard a loud crack that sent a cold shiver down her spine, and then before she could react, she was upside down. Hazel's hand and wrist were bleeding, broken in several places, but she'd managed to touch her binding to copy it again.

"I've got a copy!" Grim yelled out to Phil.

"Who doesn't at this point?" Phil sputtered as he stood up straight.

"This is it, kid, all I've got." Grim watched, suspended solely from her foot, as Phil coiled up a root like he'd done against the lizardman. She'd seen how powerful an attack like that had been. Hazel prepared for it by trying to heal her wounded arm, but the shadow moved too slow, she was spread too thin as it was. The root launched itself, and Hazel sent forward an enormous amount of energy as nine roots exploded from the ceiling and the floor to stop it.

Phil controlled this one, not bothering to cut it off from him as he deftly swerved it around each of the roots that moved to stop it. Grim waited for her chance to intervene, planning on taking out one of the nine roots when she saw a tenth hidden below her feet. Other plants camouflaged it, and it moved almost imperceptibly slow as it sharpened itself. Phil likely could have seen it too, but he was too preoccupied at the moment to notice something small like that.

He dodged the ninth root and Grim felt Hazel raise the tenth, aiming to stop it moments before hitting her. Phil noticed at the same time and tried to divert course, but his momentum was too fast. Grim didn't do much, and it was harder than she thought. If she'd tried to do any big moves like they were doing, the Boon would have run out almost instantly. She just took control of it. Hazel almost instantly fought her and won a moment later, followed by the stolen copy of the Boon burning out, anyway.

But it was too late. Hazel gasped as the root tore through her midsection and destroyed her spine. She limped over in the middle, held up only by the root. Grim fell, and while she twisted herself in midair so she didn't land on her head, it was still painful. She could hear Hazel howling in pain and frustration as she clawed helplessly against the wood. She pushed herself up and walked closer to her, not close enough that she'd be in danger of being grabbed, but enough so they could talk.

"Stop, it's over," Grim said, her voice soft but strained from exertion. Hazel's face was ugly as she looked up at Grim, blood warred with spit and shadow for real estate. She tried to speak but only coughed out a blurb of blood. Phil got halfway to them when he grunted and his armour locked up, twisting painfully on him. Hazel's ruined hand was outstretched, still able to cast through the modicum of function that remained.

Wood grew from the spike impaling her and attached itself to her shoulder, forming another arm. Grim tried to stop her, but she found herself restrained by wooden tendrils. Phil tried to struggle free, but his armour locked up tighter, forcing him to yell in pain. The tendrils holding Grim felt weak, and she set to work on exploiting the weakness as Hazel pulled herself closer to Grim.

"I've come too far to stop, I need to go away," Hazel said. Grim kicked her feet, and the thin tendrils that were holding her snapped, letting her free herself entirely. Hazel threw up another half-hearted defence, but Grim was strong enough to push them away as they limply flung themselves at her.

"Hazel, stop. What's the point? I doubt you can even use [CEDE] anymore, not to mention trying to take the thing out of me," Grim pleaded. She was nearly senseless as Grim walked up, she swung wildly as she moved, tears and blood flowing down her face. The only thing she held was the iron-tight grip she had on Phil's cage of armour. Her words were incoherent as she babbled, too far gone for even Grim to decipher. When she got within striking distance, clarity returned to her for a moment.

"How can I stop? How could you look at me the same after? After what I've done? You won't understand if you don't remember." Grim raised her hand to Hazel's face, hesitated, then to her cheek, smearing the blood as she did so.

"Please, just stop, I forgive you." Her eyes tried to open wide but were barely half lidded, she was only just clinging to consciousness.

"Why?" She wasn't sure if Hazel had just given up or her power had given out as Phil fell to the ground, heaving, trying to catch his breath from the crushing imprisonment he'd been in. Grim looked down, "I'm... I don't know."

"You could've." When she looked up, Hazel was dead.