Kurt's spiked ball smashes against the barrier protected leg of the titan, but it fails to break through. Standing on the other foot, Granknight calls out, "Kurt! You're not a state licensed Symbiolic anymore! You cannot-" "Is that really you're top priority right now!?" Kurt yells back. "Uh...Well...Keep at it then!" Komo's barrier yields little results against the stone leg, so she turns her face above. Gren, Delle, Ellia...I hope you're doing ok.
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"BAM!! BOO!!" Pamda leaps up from the rooftop and swings her staff down. Ellia blocks in the air with her bow but gets pounced upon by the acrobat. Red-hot sand fires from Dusty's twin barrel shotguns. Delle dives and rolls out of the way of both shots and takes aim. Only a pink flare is fired back, which the outlaw easily deflects with his guns. "Come on, witch! Where's all that power you had!?" Now fully reloaded, Dusty raises his weapons again. Panicking, Delle hunkers down behind an AC unit, feeling the sand pellets race by. The girl looks at her left hand, remembering how she forced her power before.
Ellia defends herself from the vicious Pamda's battering, but fails to stop them all. WHACK! A strike to the back, knocks her down, and Dusty capitalizes on the advantage. With one shotgun pointed at the pixie's face, he demands, "Time's up, pretty girl! Come out with your hands up, or your partner dies!" Pamda steps on her victim's back, preventing her escape. "Heeheehee! Dusty, I just love when you talk tough! What a man!" Behind cover, Delle sheds a tear. What can I do? Even if I abuse my Symbol again, the flames would consume Ellia too. Suddenly, Ellia's previous words echo in her mind. "You're not useful because you have power. Your power is useful because you control it." Control...
Delle steps out, hands raised with her stick in hand. "Resistance is useless," Dusty declares, causing Ellia to grow even more concerned for her friend. "I'm not useless," says Delle in a quiet voice. A single eyebrow raises on the outlaw's face, as the stick in her hand begins to glow. "I'm needed!" The crooked wood changes shape, extending and smoothing out into a long rod. The tip spirals around a small, pink flame, with Delle's eyes glowing the same.
With a simple point of her wand, the mage launches a thin stream of fire. Pink flames spiral towards Dusty and land directly on his chest. "AH!!" "BABY!!" Pamda pulls back and throws her bamboo directly at Delle, but she fires again. Mid flight the plant staff burns to ash, leaving the acrobat in dismay. "MY BAMBOOOO!!" Taking advantage of the confusion, Ellia kicks out and trips her captor, then flies to her friend. "Delle!" The two girls collide, hugging, laughing and spinning in place. "Hold on," says the happy Delle, "We still have to deal with them."
Shirtless and holding his burned chest, Dusty grunts, "Ghh! You win this round, witch." Pamda wraps her arms around her cowboy, and the couple lean back over the edge of the roof. The girls run after and look down, but only a thick cloud of sand can be seen in the alley. Setting priorities, Delle readies her spiral wand to face the stone titan. "Come on! We gotta catch up!" The smiling Ellia nods and flies her friend to battle.
Further up the road, only a few blocks away from the capitol building, Jang's statue crushes cars underfoot. Inside their master's skull, Doll Face and Stag struggle to keep everything together. "Hrng! Just a little more, Dolly," the armored beetle declares, "We're almost there! This is for Jang!" "FOR JANG!!" Suddenly the titan begins to move faster and glow more intensely. The rising feet shake off Kurt and Granknight, but Komo hangs on by shoving her barrier into the stone.
Still on the shoulders, Gren, Victor, and Kronia find more space to fight, as the statue leans forward to sprint. The mountain axe clashes with Gren's shuriken, nearly knocking it out of his hands. Kronia then aims it down, missing both teens as they split apart. "Together!" Gren shouts, and Victor listens. The duo punch their foe in the stomach at once. Dodge her outswinging blade. Clothesline her by pulling opposite ends of the scarf. And uppercut with their fists side by side. Victor primes his gauntlet and fires a bolt of lightning at Gren's shuriken. The galvanized water surges like a rapid river as they both declare, "SHURIKEN STORM!!"
A strike of lightning and downpour of water devastates Kronia. The thunderous boom and impact sends her and Gren flying back in opposite directions. Shattered armor scatters around the beaten gladiator as her body slams against the statue's head. Her replica crown had been destroyed. Victor catches the falling Gren, but both tumble over the edge. Whipping out his scarf, the boy catches a jagged edge on the titan's shoulder and desperately hangs onto his rival's hand. "Don't drop me!" Victor yells. "I won't! Just hold on!"
Gren turns his eyes back up to the ledge, and dread fills his face. The exhausted Kronia looms over the teens, broken axe in hand. "Jang said the weak should defend themselves...but you two fight for each other..." The gladiator raises her weapon high to cut down her foes. "...A mistake, you will take to the grave!" Suddenly a pink glow begins to illuminate her left side, and Kronia turns to see a stream of fire spiraling towards the back of her statue. "No!...NO!!"
The blast of flames strikes the stone titan, violently shaking the controllers inside. Doll Face loses her grip. The glow from her eyes blinks out, and she faints from the immense strain. "Dolly!" Stag attempts to catch her, but he too begins to descend. Still hanging on the leg, Komo drops down, watching the statue of her father break apart and decimate the surrounding buildings. Beams and chunks of walls scatter over her, narely missing her head. A piece of the titan's arm hurdles towards her, but Kurt runs in and tackles her out of harm's way. At the capitol's front entrance, Governor Fryste stands with her arms crossed behind her, observing the disaster. Only a single pebble rolls to her feet. "Hmm."
The shoulder that Gren and Victor hang onto for dear life crashes into the top floor of a golden hotel, sending them rolling along the cracking rooftop. Parts of the building cave in, but not all. Gren rests on his back, staring up at the cloudy, winter sky. CLANK! The heavy sound alerts both teens, who turn to find Kronia on her knees, axe dropped at her right side. Stone pillars fall in front of her, as she watches all she worked for be destroyed. Gren cautiously steps closer and says, "It's over. You need to surrender," but she seems unphased.
Distraught and in shock, Kronia speaks in a less threatening tone. "I did everything for him. To be strong like him...but I'm still too weak." Victor joins his rival's side, as Gren replies, "You don't have to be like Jang. Taking what you've learned and becoming your own person, that's what makes you strong." The boy's hopeful words draw Kronia's gaze, and he continues. "Now please, tell us what Jang found out to make him turn against the state. We need to know." His request lays heavy on her soul. Jang would've kept the truth secret to expose it only after destroying the current power, but not her.
Kronia stands in her armored boots, tall above Gren and Victor. With regret filled eyes she says, "Our Symbols aren't genetically random. They're cho-" A line of blood splatters on the teens' faces. Their eyes show complete shock and disbelief at what they're seeing. Kronia spills blood from her lips and collapses from the blade through her throat.
Behind the fallen gladiator stands the last person Gren expected. His former mentor, Percy, dawns his green armor and yellow cape, though darkened from a lack of polish. His bloody blade retracts from its victim's throat, but remains unsheathed. A crack over the mask's right eye allows Percy's blue pupil to stare at his apprentice. His voice, though filtered with static distortion, sounds hauntingly familiar to Gren. "Hey, kid...Been a while."
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