I Have No More Hope Left Inside

Earlier, inside the panopticon:
The Warden emerged from the cloud of dust, twisting his chin until his neck cracked. He had an annoyed look on his face, as if a fly was buzzing around his face.

His arms transformed into their metal counterparts, the clanking of the ability echoing through the large panopticon.

Hardy wore a puzzled look. He shook it off, trying to keep his focus on the Warden’s next attack.

The giant man charged forward. He reeled his fist back as the metal covering it creaked.

Boom

Hardy let out another explosive wall of sound.

The Warden was prepared. He had already transformed his left leg into a metal limb, slamming it into the concrete. He crossed his arms in front of his head in preparation.

The wall of noise rushed past him, but his leg anchored him in place.

“Don’t think you can use the same trick twice.” The Warden continued his charge, his stomps rumbling the ground below the rebels

The hulking man’s limbs returned to normal moments after he began to move again. Hardy’s puzzled expression returned as he noticed this, but he knew the dire situation him and Akilah were in. There was no time to think right now.

“Shit.” Hardy took a step back. “C’mon, Akilah.” Hardy waved to the girl, who was still reeling from the pain of the pressure on her wound.

Akilah got up, pushing past her body’s warnings.

The two rebels began to run towards the stairs on the other side of the panopticon, the Warden chasing them close behind.

“You had an idea, didn’t you?” Akilah asked Hardy, trying to hold her sword with her only good hand.

“You’re as sharp as Jason said you were.” Hardy nodded. “I do have an idea, I just need to verify it. Cover your ears.”

The dreadlocked man spun around, his glowing hand pointing two fingers towards the ground just like before.

Shing

The sound of Akilah unsheathing her sword rang through the air.

Akilah was knocked back slightly. This time, instead of a deep thud, it felt like a fast punch to the body.

The Warden dug his metallic heel into the concrete, transforming his limbs as he crossed his metallic arms in front of him.

As soon as the sound passed, the Warden continued his charge, his arms returning to normal.

“I think I see what you’re seeing.” Akilah muttered as the two of them began to run once again.

“Yeah. He can only transform his limbs for a couple seconds. It’s a shorter amount of time when the area is larger.” Hardy explained.

“So if we execute a barrage of attacks…” Akilah said. She thought to herself, looking at her bloody jacket sleeve.

“Here goes nothing.” Akilah held her sword in front of her, wincing as she tried to move her injured arm.

“Are you gonna be alright?” Hardy examined the girl’s expression. She had wiped off any hint of pain from her face as soon as she could, even though it was still noticeable when you looked closely.

“I can’t just sit back and watch.” Akilah gritted her teeth as she steadied her blade. Her words made Hardy think.

“My ability really is just a zoning attack. We’ll need a sharp blow to finish it off.” Hardy thought.

“Alright, let’s do this.” Hardy said as he pointed his glowing hand to the ground.

The Warden was getting close. He had only gotten faster with every charge, like he was feeding off the rebels' attacks.

Hardy nodded towards the watchtower.

“Gotcha.” Akilah whispered. The two of them ran around the giant watchtower in the middle of the room, the Warden chasing right after them.

The giant turned the corner, being met with the two rebels, facing him directly.

He stopped, immediately taken aback by the front.

“I get it, Hardy. This was just a way to get closer to the Warden without making him suspicious.” Akilah confirmed in her head.

In preparation, the Warden stomped his boot into the ground and transformed his limbs into metal.

Boom
Hardy shot a wall of noise at the Warden, just as he had prepared for.

The sound pushed him back as the heels of his boots dug into the concrete.

As it passed, the Warden instinctually deactivated his ability. He had transformed all four limbs, he knew he didn’t have long before the ability would deactivate on its own due to lack of Spirit.

He lowered his arms, looking up at his opponent. His eyes widened.

The purple-haired teenager leaped towards him, her blade reeled back over her head.

Slash

Akilah brought down her sword with as much force as she could gather through her one and a half arms of strength.

Direct hit.
The blade slashed down the Warden’s forearm. He jumped back, surprise written all over his face.

“Warden!” The guard that had accompanied the Warden pulled out his service weapon in response to the Warden’s injuries, pointing it straight at the girl.

“3045! I said watch! You’ve already done too much.” The Warden spat on the floor. “Besides, if I can’t protect this prison from a few rebels, what kind of Warden am I?”

Akilah whipped her blade downwards, shaking the blood off of it and leaving an arc of red splatter on the panopticon floor.

“Let's keep the pressure on him.” Hardy kept his hand in his ability’s position as Akilah nodded in agreement.

Boom
The Warden anchored himself again, transforming his limbs back to normal after the sound had passed.

When he opened his eyes, Akilah was heading straight for him, her sword pointing straight for his abdomen.

“Shit.” The Warden muttered under his breath. He didn’t have enough time to dodge.

Instinctually, he grabbed the blade, stopping it from hitting his abdomen.

Blood poured out from his palm. The Warden let out a painful groan as he released his grip.

Akilah reeled her sword back in, whipping the blood off of the blade and onto the ground in an arched splatter.

Guard 3045 flinched forward before catching himself. He aimed his service weapon towards the ground as he watched the altercation closely.

The Warden jumped back. He closed his palm slowly, wincing at the pain.

“So, they’ve figured out my weakness. I guess it’s time to switch over to my trump card.” The Warden thought. He balled his fists as he got ready to activate his ability.

“God, please have mercy on our souls.” The Warden muttered as he looked towards his feet.

Hardy and Akilah stepped back. They looked at each other, trying to see if either of them had a clue as to what their opponent was planning.

Suddenly, The Warden’s entire body began to shift into a colossal metal statue. Every inch of his body was covered in those metal shingles his ability manifested.

Clank. Clank

“Warden! That’ll kill you!” Guard 3045 shouted.

“I know!” The Warden called back to the guard.

“I’ve learned how to push past my body’s restraints, eating away at any and all Spirit left in my body to manifest his steel armor. Once I activate this ability, I won’t be able to tell when my body’s had enough, so I’ll probably die from Spirit loss.” The Warden thought.

“Tell everyone to keep working towards a unified world, one with no rebel scum.” The Warden nodded back to the guard.

Akilah’s eyes widened as the Warden’s words echoed off the walls. Something about the sincerity of the man’s words caught her off guard.

“I’ll help!” Guard 3045 pulled out his service weapon, firing it at the two rebels.

Hardy promptly assumed his ability’s hand position.

Boom

The bullet ricocheted backwards as Hardy’s wall of noise collided with it. Hardy winced in pain, feeling the Spirit fade out of his hand.

“I’m running out of Spirit already? Ha, I thought I was better than this.” Hardy thought to himself as he gritted his teeth in frustration.

“The-” Guard 3045 couldn’t even get a word out before the bullet met his forehead. It shot right through his head and onto the wall behind him as blood poured onto the concrete below.

The guard’s bloody corpse collapsed onto the floor as his life drained out of the hole in his head.

Akilah’s eyes widened. It reminded her too much of that day, when Jessica was executed in front of an entire nation.

The Warden’s breathing began to get heavy. He tried to compress his anger, but every time he glanced at the lifeless body of his subordinate his now metal teeth grinded against each other.

“You’ll die a horrible death. I’ll take you down with me if it’s the last thing I do.” The Warden balled his fist, metal grinding against itself.

At this point, Akilah and Hardy were sweaty and tired, but the Warden had a renewed energy about him thanks to his last ditch effort of an ability.

Thud
The three fighters looked up to the third floor, where they saw Vida and Amora crash into the metal balcony before Amora let out an agonizing scream.

“Vida? Amora?” Akilah muttered to herself as she tried to keep her focus on her opponent.

“Well, it looks like I’ll have to wrap this up now. May God have mercy on your soul.” The Warden reeled his fist back.

His arm transformed into a metal machine, metal layers adding on top of each other as he charged forward.