VernaMonika's blazing halberd sped through the air at blistering speed. Marionette was quick enough to spin and face the attack, but not enough to dodge. With explosive force, the halberd tore into the beast, blasting a massive hole in Marionette's stolen torso. If the monster could feel, it was certainly in shock. Verna smiled, this was her chance.
{verna goes for heads theme}Before Marionette had time to turn around again, Verna charged. The monster had no trouble deflecting Verna's ranged attacks, if Verna wanted to kill her, there was only one thing she could do. With a cry of determination, Verna shoved her ball directly for Marionette's head, igniting its power. Her power wasn't designed to be lenient, even without activating its pain canceling effect, it still refused to go easy on her. She hated that, it made fighting like this hurt so much. But this time she didn't care how much it hurt. She was full of hate, causing it to scorch her arms and hands violently. But so too did it scorch Marionette. And with the force of Verna's arms behind it, the ball was just strong enough to destroy a decent chunk of Marionette's head.
But Marionette didn't fall.
The Flesh Knitters lashed out violently towards the now-defenseless Verna, within an instant taking off a chunk of her face. The murderess screamed, already at her limit for pain after making such a risky attack. She tried to activate her pain canceling, but it was too late, the pain was simply too much for her to exert that much control. And so when Marionette also dug into her chest, she felt every prick, stab, and tear. Her body was rapidly dissembled at a rate far too fast for her brain to process, all she could understand was that she was in complete agony. Perhaps that would be all she would feel for the rest of her life, if it didn't end here.
She had promised Kirari she would kill the monster, but she failed. Worse, she was failing Kirari's one request. She was going to die. She wanted to apologize, but she wasn't even sure she had a mouth left to apologize with. It was hard to say if she was even Verna Hembrite anymore, the needles were consuming more than just her body. They were eating at her very soul, commanding what were once parts of her to join them. She wanted to resist, to fight on and return to Kirari alive, but she wasn't any good at resisting. Throughout her life, Verna had always been a slave to others. Spending time with Doc and Kira had been a nice distraction, she was sad to see it coming to an end.
After mere seconds, most of the front of Verna's torso was gone, exposing her innards. Several ribs had been stolen by the needles, and she was missing at least a few chunks of organ. It was a miracle that she had managed to stay alive, and Marionette wasn't about to let her continue. One of the needles set its sights on her heart, planning to take it for the beast. Verna's eye saw its path, and something in her
pushed. She had nothing left to fight with. She fought anyway. Verna's ball intercepted the needle, knocking it aside and saving her life.
"Not bad."
Marionette was suddenly flung away from Verna at a blinding speed, smashing into a nearby wall with a sickening crunch. Verna was only just conscious enough to see a nude angel float down next to her, catching her before she fell to the ground.
Beyond Verna's perception, Marionette turned her broken neck to face Monika. Her face was a mangled mess, with only a single pristine purple eye seeming to carry any real expression. An expression of contempt. And then she fled, leaving Monika to clean up the horrible mess she had created.