Everything around Kira felt distant and muffled, her senses overwhelmed as ringing filled her ears.
Kira wobbled to her hands and knees. She pressed a palm to her head as her gaze landed on the drone in the Osiri's hands. "Jin?"
"I'm here." There was a groan. "Why does it feel like I just did ten rounds with a battleship?"
An apt description for their present states.
Kira's body hurt in a way she hadn't known it could. The last time she’d felt like this was in the aftermath of using a burst. When every cell of her being felt like it might fall apart. Only worse. Because it wasn’t just her physical self that was in agony. But her mind and spiritual one as well. The area surrounding her connection with Jin one massive wound. The nerve endings so badly damaged that all she could sense from either him or her was pain.
The Osiri knelt just out of her reach. "It's fascinating—your bond flows both ways."
Kira squinted at the Osiri’s face, wishing she could get her hands on his throat. She’d rip it right out. If only her limbs didn't feel like overcooked noodles.
"I'm assuming the bio feedback resulting from such a connection is why the soul bound is stable. It’s a pity."
"What is?" Kira ground out, part of her registering movement from Pallas’s body.
The Osiri had straightened to his full height. "We have no need for a soul bound who cannot maintain his own soul."
The Osiri squeezed. The sphere cracked, a spider web of lines running over the exterior as Jin started to scream. At the same time, it felt like a hand had reached into Kira's center to crush the well of ki that anchored her being.
The Osiri's grip eased, his inhuman gaze resting on her with a hint of intrigue. "Perhaps I was hasty in my assumption. His use may lie in another direction."
He meant as a means to control Kira.
"Kira, I don't know about you, but I don't plan to go out like this," Jin rasped.
"Right there with you, buddy."
She wouldn’t let their bond be tainted that way.
Jin's anti gravs roared into full reverse. At the same time, he unloaded every bit of his firepower into the Osiri’s face.
The Osiri's hand clenched, dagger like claws erupting from the tips of his fingers and spearing Jin's casing before he flung the drone across the room. It hit one of the cryopods, denting it enough for liquid to start leaking out before dropping to the ground.
Finn dropped from the ceiling, his blade already flashing.
The Osiri caught it an inch from his neck. "Is that all you've got?"
There was the sensation of something cold and awful piercing Kira’s insides. But when she looked down, there was no wound she could see. Just unblemished armor.
Raider fired his pulse rifle from the opposite side of the platform, taking the Osiri in the back. "Nope. It’s not."
Kira was up and across the platform, barreling toward Elena and Thea.
There was delight in Thea’s face at Kira's approach.
The briar's lashes sprang from beneath the walkway. Kira didn't have time to dodge as they wrapped around her leg, the thorns in them biting deep.
Blood ran in rivulets, splashing the water below.
A roar came from the depths of the pool.
The Osiri stopped. "Impossible."
Thea, sensing danger, tried to recall the briar. Kira grabbed one whip, keeping it in place. Its thorns bit into her hand, drawing more blood.
"Let go!" Thea yelled.
Kira bared her teeth at the other. "I don't think so."
Elena took advantage of the distraction, lashing out with one hand to bury a dagger that looked disturbingly like a piece of bone in Thea's shoulder.
Thea shoved Elena away from her. "Brat."
Elena toppled over the edge of the walkway and into the water. It closed over her head, swallowing her niece.
"Enough of this," the Osiri murmured.
He shoved Finn back. The oshota collided with the platform's central device.
Raider pounded toward the two, firing his weapon as the air around the Osiri's hand warped and condensed into a spear. The feeling it gave off so wrong and evil that Kira found it hard to breathe.
The Osiri’s spear took Finn through the chest, piercing his armor easily.
"I think you'll be a nice replacement for the toy I just lost," the Osiri informed him.
Finn coughed, blood spurting from his mouth as his lips stretched into a tired smile. "Think again."
Pallas rose from the gloom like an avenging reaper, his face merciless as he swung his sword. It removed the Osiri's head from his shoulders.
They all stood there, staring.
"That's it?" Pallas asked, looking confused. "It's over? I thought killing one of them would be harder."
Finn lowered himself to sitting, his face pale. The flow of blood had stopped as his armor clamped down on his wound, staunching it.
Raider bypassed the others, heading for the place where Elena had fallen.
Kira shifted, keeping an eye on Thea.
Raider knelt at the edge, searching the water for his daughter. "Where is she? I don't see her."
Thea's shoulders started to shake. A giggle left her. The sound growing until it bounced off the walls of the rotunda.
Pallas threw her a look. "Silence, traitor. Your reckoning will come soon enough."
"You don't get it. Gods can't be killed." There was a look of worship on Thea’s face as she stared beyond their shoulders.
Pallas and Kira's eyes met in realization. They turned too late as a being made of madness and light unfolded from the body of the Osiri.
Kira caught an impression of scorching gold where its eyes should be. The rest of the face’s details indistinct and hazy. As if her brain refused to focus.
The Osiri's voice was something out of a nightmare. "You will die painfully, screaming for your end."
Kira's ears buzzed from the assault. "Pallas."
He flicked her a glance, a grim understanding there.
Seeing it, Kira reached for her primus. It slammed into her consciousness, flooding her body with power and strength she'd desperately need.
Pallas tossed his sword in the air. Kira grabbed it, stabbing it into the Osiri's center.
The Osiri grabbed its length, using the blade to haul Kira closer as it lowered its face to hers. "You waste your time. I am eternal life. Unending. Undying."
"Haven't you ever wondered why they call me the Phoenix?" Kira snarled.
Flames started to lick along Pallas’s blade. Orange and yellow with hints of blue at their center.
The origin of her namesake channeled down Pallas's sword. It wasn't the best medium, but for her purposes it would do.
Kira shoved her power down its length.
In this place where her natural connection with her soul's breath was severed, it wasn't easy. It took chunks of herself. Bits and pieces, gladly sacrificed.
If this was what it took to destroy this blight, she'd offer it willingly.
The Osiri shrieked, the sound awful and penetrating. Like taking razorblades to her ear.
It wasn’t going to be enough, Kira realized. He was going to win.
Child.