"I should’ve done this from the start," Garren slowly spoke, clasping his two palms together in a grip as bits of electricity flashed around inside of it. "

Stanley wasn’t sure what was happening or what he was about to do. He quickly slammed onto the red jewel on his sword, and the two fangs gripping not the blade opened up wide.

Stanley quickly pointed it toward the man, getting ready to shoot when the Nova opened up his palm. Stanley saw the future as something happened.

He took the shot without waiting to see what it was. Even as his sword shot out a massive blob of plasma toward the Nova, a wave of energy moved out in all directions, the air shimmering with it like a silver bubble.

Stanley moved even further back, but there was nowhere he could run so that this wave wouldn’t catch up. Where it passed, the lights went out.

The hall got darker and darker until it passed through Nova who had created a metal cage around her, and then Stanley to whom it did nothing.

Stanley paused and looked forward in the darkness, where the only light was from the hall door behind him, and the two glowing lightning-covered arms of the Lightning Nova.

"What... happened?" he wondered.

"Electromagnetic pulse," Nova said, without looking back at Stanley. Stanley was still a little confused when she spoke what he understood.

"EMP!"

Stanley paused. ’EMP?’

He knew what that was. He didn’t know what it was called entirely, but he knew what it was when she called it that. He remembered reading about it.

It was meant to interfere with electronics, or even destroy it.

"Shit!" he quickly looked at his sword, and realized what was missing from it now. Its red glow. The connection between the Plasmium and whatever it was that powered the entire swords was gone.

And it was not just the sword.

Stanley took the shield off his belt and could tell it wasn’t working either. Same as all the lights in the room.

"Dammit!" he couldn’t help but cry out when he realized that.

The Lightning Nova had just removed all electronics from the battle. Shield was one thing, but losing light made it hard. He could only do so much in the darkness.

His vision filled with a bright scene of him getting struck by a lightning bolt from the distance, so Stanley moved before he was hit. The lightning struck where he stood 2 seconds before and in that time he had arrived close to Garren.

Garren felt a spike of panic go through him when he saw Stanley. The darkness wasn’t just bad for Stanley, but for him as well. He couldn’t see where anyone was, and the only one he did see thanks to his silhouette in the doorway was already upon him.

Stanley swung his silvery blade in the darkness, blue light reflecting off of it as Garren’s lightning-covered hand punched next to it. Stanley saw the punch hit his head 2 seconds afterward and dodged, the electric buzz passing through the air where his head had been.

The sword flashed absently, hitting nothing as it rang into the ground with a large thud. The wooden floor rose half a meter off the ground and collapsed underneath both their fell.

Stanley saw it coming and managed to steady himself before Garren could. Even as he saw everything happening, his body was in the process of falling and no matter what he did, he could not get a hold of something to steady himself.

Stanley’s sword fell on his head and Garren saw death. He saw it coming as slowly as he saw everything when lightning filled his nerves.

’No!’ he thought and raised his lightning-covered hands.

The speed at which he had to move his arms pained him. While the body could move fast, it could not handle the speed. The speed at which his arms moved would burn his muscles until his lightning could relieve him from it a few seconds later.

His hand grabbed onto the incoming sword and lightning glittered out of him. Some small bolts of lightning moved out from him, arcing along the side of the sword, glowing it.

Stanley saw it all. Even as the man landed on his back in the destroyed wooden debris, he reached out for the sword and his whole body turned to lightning. Then like lightning, he disappeared from where he was and moved up the sword.

He appeared on the other side of the sword, between Stanley and the hilt. He struck Stanley with a force that sent him flying backward.

Stanley instinctively let go of his sword at the first instance he felt the lightning shock his hand. It was not his choice to let go of the sword, but it was what he had to do.

Stanley flew to one side, the sword struck the ground on the other side, and Garren fell to the broken wood in the middle.

"Aaagh!" he cried out in pain. Striking onto Stanley at the speed he did had not been harmless. He felt bones across his arms broken, and even his shoulder was crushed.

Blood leaked from underneath his wounds and the flesh must’ve split due to the force he struck Stanley with.

His powers gave out due to the pain and he could no longer experience things with a quick mind. His pain made sure of that much.

Nova’s metal wires that she had been using could finally find a target that didn’t move fast enough to become a blur in her eyes. She did not know what was happening, but at least it had slowed down so that she could strike her brother. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

10 different threads slammed onto the hurt Garren, all of which struck blindly to where it was.

3 struck his legs, 2 on his chest, 2 on his right arm, and the remaining struck nothing.

Garren screamed some more. His eyes turned cold in pain, regarding everyone his enemy. Without a care who he hurt, he collected lightning on himself and let it fly out.