Upon seeing Rito, Sato lost his mind. He let out an animalistic roar and charged blindly at the three of them. The three of them wasted no time at all. Nina dashed at him and slammed her sledge into his chest again causing him to grind to a halt. As he did, he seemed to shake before he crumbled to the ground again. Hiro's hands formed a triangle with him presumably in the middle. Rito ran over to me and Denki and Natsu and helped them up.

  "This shit again?!" exclaimed White. "Girl, take care of these two. Black, go help Sato."

  Onodera gave a solid yank on the chain and freed it from the splintered arrow. Her eyes glowed as she began swinging it in a mesmerizing pattern. The chain glowed in resonance with her eyes before she quickly wound it up and uncoiled it. The bright violet metal came barreling towards my chest.

  Then, it slowed, giving me enough time to roll out of its way before speeding back up and crashing into the ground behind where I was. Without missing a beat, she maneuvered it free and sent it into the air. It arched at a peak just above our heads and came crashing down on top of me again. As before, I managed to slow it enough to safely get out of the way.

  Yamato stood and put his shaking hands together. Onodera seemed completely concentrated on killing me and paid him no mind. She lashed out at me with an increasing anger, each strike more furious and powerful than the last. I finally found the pattern in her attacks by accident.

  I dodged the chain and saw that Yamato was trying to catch up to the fray. What had seemed like her not paying attention to him found new meaning: she was avoiding him. I tried to test my theory and dove repeatedly trying to redirect her to him.

  I feel like I'm playing one of those bob and weave video games... only with much higher stakes.

  "Sorry about this," I called Yamato as I caught back up to him.

  "What the hell?" he grunted as he half slipped.

  When we were both in the line of the chain, she pulled it back and froze. Without saying a word, she stared us down. Her words from earlier echoed in my head, "I wouldn't hurt him." Somehow, even under the control of another, she retained that part of herself.

  Guess there's a shred of hope, then.

  "What are you waiting for?" White called out. "Kill them, girl!"

  As his words filled her ears, her face contorted in a tortured manner. She painfully began spinning up the chain which had again hummed with violet-hued energy. Tears sporadically fell from her eyes, and a trickle of blood flowed from her nose. She slowly marched closer wearing the worsening expression.

  She unraveled the chain in a direct strike at me, but I was able to dodge it with ease. She recoiled it and sent it again, but the result was the same. Yamato was not so lucky the second time, however. I looked back to see the true damage the chain could do.

  In a flash, his stomach was ripped open, and his guts began seeping out. His expression was frozen in shock; the pain hadn't yet hit him. Onodera, however, took the brunt of an emotional impact upon seeing him. The chain, along with her whole body, rattled and shook. She crumbled to her knees, and the tears and blood began flowing like rivers.

  She's trying to fight it so hard that her brain is about to explode. I've got to get them both out of this situation.

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  I was able to get my ability activated as White was opening his mouth, likely to incite her to finish Yamato off. I ran over to Onodera and quickly clocked the back of her neck twice for good measure. After that, I picked up Yamato and ran as fast as I could to a suitable aid station that was manned. It seemed to take forever to find the right one, but I finally found the best equipped one.

  Out of sheer luck — I'm sure I had Rito to thank — there was a paramedic team that had pulled up since the quakes had started. There were a few people already at the station, and I quickly moved them out of the way to clear a spot for Yamato. I placed him on a table and pulled one of the paramedics to his side. I turned back and started for the field again hoping that I would see him again after this was over.

  As I reentered the field, I saw how the other fight had been going. Hiro had pinned Sato completely under his ability. Nina was chipping away at Black's defenses with each crash of her sledge, but she also seemed like she was fighting exhaustion. Rito had pulled Natsu and Denki back from the fighting, but Natsu still kept his eyes on the skirmish while he made sure Black never landed a single hit.

  This can't keep going on; they're all going to hit their limits, but these guys won't stop until we're all dead. They're not soldiers, nor are they killers, despite how Nina may try to act...

  BUT YOU ARE...

  Not anymore.

  I made my way back to White who still stood in the middle of spewing his venom. My thoughts raced to find a way to deal with the three of them that didn't involve them dying. My hand seemed to move on its own, and my knife danced in my palm. Suddenly, an idea came to me.

  I found the rose on his arm and carved into the skin. The rose was broken up into several pieces by the time I was done; none of the cuts would be fatal, but they would be enough to disfigure the tattoo and hopefully break his hold on Onodera. As the flow of time resumed, I returned to my spot to see if my theory would prove true.

  "I said ki— AGH!!" White squelched in pain.

  He fell to his knees grasping his arm trying to stop the blood. Onodera collapsed unconscious, and I stood over him ready to counter any attack he may let loose. Despite my efforts to remain stone-faced, my mouth creeped into a smirk as he writhed in more pain and she lay face down.

  "What the hell are you, kid?!" Where venom filled his voice before, in its place now sat fear. "You and your freak show are nothing like the guys that took the boss."

  "I'm the one who's putting an end to your boss's reign of terror," I replied in a cold voice. "And those 'freaks' are my friends."

  I had messed up and gone with theatrics. I didn't notice when he materialized the pistol in his hand again. He looked up at me with disdain-filled eyes, and I felt my own eyes raining down anger on him. In a split second, his expression changed to one resembling an underhanded victory.

  His wrist flicked upwards, and I recoiled back to avoid the shot. He held the pistol upside down and looped his pinky into the trigger well. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, but the moments didn't last forever. Before he could squeeze the trigger, an arrow screamed through the air and pierced his wrist through and through.

  "Shit!!" He yelped as he dropped the pistol. "Shit!!" He echoed as I realized where the arrow hit.

  The shaft of the arrow protruded right where the mouth of the snake opened. Even as the tattoo glowed, the snake couldn't bite its tail — he couldn't heal. The blood didn't stop, and the rose stopped healing. He tried to move the arrow, but the head kept it from going back out. He couldn't pull it through since the arrow was starting to splinter again. It was trapped perfectly in his arm.

  Nice job, Rito. I owe you big time.

  I looked over my shoulder expecting to see his goofy smile, but he wasn't there. He was still engaged in the Sato and Black fight. White's screams went quiet, and the other fight froze in place. All around me, everyone stood still and silent. There was no one in sight that could have shot the arrow. After scanning the field, my eyes were drawn up.

  The walls surrounding the field gave way to the stands. Before, they were filled with people spectating the games. Now, a solemn figure stood alone bearing a long bow from the archery competition. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and her white uniform seemed to shine against the concrete and metal that surrounded her.

  Her face was totally different from when I saw her in the raining alley, and it bore none of the arrogance that it previously had when she killed me. Whether she's actually different or not doesn't no longer mattered. Angelica Grey had just saved my life.