Forty-three percent health left on him.
“You think others are just puppets to be played. Strings to be pulled.”
“They are,” Moran growled.
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Kaiden said, then snapped his eyes over to Thorne. “Improved Grip Like Iron!” he shouted and she sprung into motion. Moran tried to turn to meet her, but she got there first and activated the ability.
Ability: Improved Grip Like Iron
You channel charge into your shield hand. The next opponent you grapple will be held in place for 5 seconds plus X seconds, where X is 3% of your total strength stat. A grappled opponent can be attacked and deals 20% less damage when attacking.
She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tight, locking the hierarch in place. Moran screamed, veins straining in his neck as he fought to break free.
“All right, now Titus,” Kaiden said, turning to him. This next part was going to be critical but they had to finish the combo before Thorne died. Then her damage would push them through to the win.
Ability: Matter Shift
Moran disappeared from Thorne’s grasp, fading into nothing. He reappeared a moment later.
“Behind you!” Kaiden shouted but the hierarch was already attacking.
One, two critical hits to Thorne’s back and the last bit of her health slipped away.
Party Member Killed!
Thorne collapsed like a bag of rocks, armor clanking to the ground as she went down in a limp heap.
Shit! The combo doesn’t work if we can’t root him first.
Kaiden stepped up to distract Moran, to keep him in place, but it seemed he’d caught on to what was happening.
Ability: Improved Last Rites (passive)
When you reach 0% health this ability triggers. You have 30 seconds to kill all opponents in a 50-foot radius of your point of death. Every kill made during this time extends the kill timer by 3 seconds. Should you succeed, you will be given 1% HP back. If not, you will die. Kills made during this time earn no EXP. Abilities can be used during Improved Last Rites.
Thorne’s ultimate ability kicked in and she came back from the dead – like Kaiden had known she would – but Moran was too clever. He activated Lightspeed and darted away, easily clearing the fifty-foot radius Thorne was bound within. She was alive for thirty more seconds and could deal damage, but not if Moran stayed outside the radius of her death, which she couldn’t leave.
Zelda had slipped into Sniper Mode now and she activated her hammer-rifle’s special ability, then fired three Improved Kinetic Grenades at Moran, trying to drive him back toward Thorne. They detonated in bursts of laser and flame, but with Lightspeed active Moran was too fast. He took glancing damage as he slipped out of their range and further away from Thorne.
Titus followed him as well, but he might as well have been a toddler chasing a cheetah.
Even with a partial hit from her multiple grenades Zelda was able to use Lock On so her attacks wouldn’t miss Moran, which was a start, but it wasn’t going to force him into Thorne’s radius, which had quickly become the most important part of the plan.
We can’t access the broadcast controls while Moran’s alive, and he knows that. We leave ourselves too open if we do. He’s going to delay until Thorne’s Last Rites wears off, or Killswitch is complete. That’s his plan, Kaiden knew. It was clear the tide of the fight was turning, but Moran didn’t need to kill them and everyone knew it. If he simply harassed them long enough, Killswitch would ensure his victory.
Still moving too fast to see, Moran weaved in and out of the group, striking with critical hits whenever he was close and blasting away with ranged attacks when he wasn’t.
Kaiden’s Dual Wielding was over now so at the least he was able to block several of Moran’s blazing-fast hits on his shield. Titus was forced over to Zelda to keep her alive. Everyone took damage, though. Everyone except Thorne, who was technically unkillable while Improved Last Rites was active.
All right, new plan. Or rather, an alteration on the old. Moran was fast – too fast to hit. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t be caught; it just meant Kaiden needed to move at the same speed as him.
Ability: Lightspeed
Kaiden body reverberated with energy as the ability activated. And then everything seemed to slow down. Titus spun in slow motion, hefting his shield around to block an oncoming attack. Zelda pulled the trigger on an Improved Burst Arrow and Kaiden watched as the laser oozed out of the barrel of her hammer-rifle. Moran moved to dodge it, but Lock On made sure it hit.
With Kaiden’s Lightspeed active, Moran was the only other person in the room moving at regular speed, and he just had time to turn to look as Kaiden tackled him from the side.
They tumbled to the ground and the double damage debuff on Lightspeed set both of their health bars to flashing. Kaiden’s health dropped even further as Moran caught him with a sloppy hammer strike. Kaiden lashed back.
Twenty-three percent for me, thirty-eight for him.
Moran snarled, then attacked again, and Kaiden fell away, narrowly avoiding the blow. With both of them taking two hundred percent damage on any hits – thanks to Lightspeed – it wouldn’t take many blows to reduce either of them to zero. Moran knew this just as much as Kaiden and he stormed forward now, ready to kill him – again.
Kaiden blocked the attack on his shield, then fell to the side, inching toward Thorne. Moran pounced, swinging once more. Kaiden rolled away from that blow but it still caught his shoulder and his health dropped to eight percent.
Moran could feel victory looming. It was obvious in his eyes. He was transfixed. Obsessed.
Moran swung his hammer for a killing blow.
Kaiden threw caution to the wind and lunged forward. He slipped just under Moran’s blow and danced away. Moran growled, then spun to chase him.
Yes, come on. Chase me. Chase me!
But
