KirariEven with her needles countered, Marionette was far from helpless. She raced forward, reaching out to tear Verna apart by hand if she had to. The needles' assault didn't let up, keeping Verna's weapon occupied with defense. In a contest of strength and speed, Marionette would easily trump Verna. But the murderess had no intent to let it come to that. In one swift motion, she drew and fired her sidearm into Marionette's chest, stopping her dead. The needles faltered for just a split second, but that split second was enough for Verna's weapon to slam into Marionette's side, scorching her again. Verna didn't let up, firing her gun twice more while her holy weapon smashed into Marionette over and over, battering and burning her pilfered flesh.
Marionette simply took these attacks, her needles not even moving to block the bullets. It was as though she were paralyzed, although it didn't quite seem that Verna actually had the upper hand yet. Marionette had survived far more than a few gunshots.
"Damn you..." Marionette grumbled in Verna's voice, "You're not even a piece, you don't matter."
"Whoa, you sound just like me!" Verna exclaimed in surprise, "That's so cool!" Even now, standing against Marionette as an equal, she was still Verna.
"I'm a Prince, one who is protected by Fate itself. You're nothing. By the rules of the cosmic game we're all subject to, you're nothing but a pawn. So how? How the hell can you stand up to me?" Marionette raved.
"Well that's easy!" Verna responded as though Marionette had just asked the stupidest question in the world, "You're a monster that wants to hurt my friends."
A scream of pure rage roared forth from Marionette as the needles sprung to life once more.
"I'm not a monster!!!"Suddenly it was Verna who was on the defensive, barely managing to hold off Marionette's flurry of needles with her ball. Marionette leapt forward, but Verna didn't back off. Firing her gun off several times, she dove underneath Marionette's attack, rolling back to her feet behind the monster. Marionette was spewing blood everywhere, but didn't seem fazed at all by gunshots anymore. It seemed the first had upset her more than actually harmed her. She whirled around to face Verna, who just barely managed to climb to her feet before Marionette's needles sprung at her again. But Verna was ready this time, easily deflecting them away with her ball. Both weapons clashed at blinding speed as the two combatants slowly closed in on one another. Verna took a couple more shots with her gun, but this time Marionette's needles deflected them. Marionette sprung forward, closing the last of the gap in one inhumanly quick movement. She was met by Verna's arm, outstretched with palm open towards the monster's face. The murderess's weapon completed one final orbit to send the needles flying back before coming to an extremely abrupt halt directly between Verna's hand and Marionette's face.
Grinning wildly, Verna closed her fist.
{serious verna theme}The metal rods embedded in the ball's outer edge snapped towards the center of the weapon. Upon making contact, they emitted a brilliant flash of blue light across the smoking battlefield. Marionette recoiled, screaming and clutching at her eyes. Verna wasted no time unloading her pistol into the monster's gut, causing it to split open and spill out more than a few bits of entrail. The murderess then followed up with a series of punches and kicks, each accompanied by a matching strike from her glowing weapon. Battered, bruised, and burnt beyond any semblance of the humanity she had long since abandoned, Marionette staggered backwards under the assault. Her blood splattered across Verna's cackling face, grinning wide with the sort of glee that only someone truly insane could muster.
Marionette tripped, stumbling backwards several steps and outside Verna's reach. Desperately, her needles launched forward, but they stopped short of Verna as if held fast by an invisible string. Verna held her arm out to the side, prompting her weapon to stop abruptly once more. This time she did not close her fist and the rods moved inwards much more slowly. As they neared each other, a bright golden glow began to spread over the battlefield. The same glow that had helped Kirari find her true self.
Verna's cackling ceased and she glared menacingly at Marionette, who was only just starting to recover her sight. Her gleeful grin was now a sneer of raw contempt. "No limits." she said quietly. A deep breath followed.
Verna ran towards Marionette and leapt into the air, catching the rotation of her weapon as she went up, sending her into a high speed spin. Her weapon closed into a tight orbit around her, going from a hard-to-follow blur to a solid ring of glowing energy. Verna shot down towards Marionette, the monster's needles unable to even attempt to scratch her with her weapon moving at such high speed. Using all the momentum she'd built up, Verna slammed her fist into Marionette's face, smashing the monster's jaw. At the same time, her weapon punched through Marionette's torso, ripping it in two.
Verna landed into a roll that took her away from the two halves of Marionette's body. She panted as she came to her feet, looking towards what she hoped was a defeated opponent. The living corpse was now on fire where Verna's weapon had smashed through it, but somehow Marionette still lived.
{the last stand of someone who matters}Marionette's needles latched onto her body, stringing it up like a puppet. They haphazardly reattached her legs, but without a replacement there was no hope of her actually making use of them. She shambled towards Verna, her shattered jaw contorting in an inhuman approximation of a snarl. A guttural growl rumbling in her throat, likely the only noise she was still capable of making. One eye peered out from beneath her swollen and charred flesh. A single purple iris, rage burning behind it as it matched glares with the partner it had been stolen from.
"You... Don't...
Matter..." Marionette croaked nigh-incoherently.