cicero

"Heh." Cicero swung her halberd onto the ground. It smashed through the street with a cataclysmic force. Cracks spread to the buildings on either side, and then spread up the buildings. Windows shattered, their glass shards spewing onto the road. The ground beneath Sloan's boots burst and sent her flying.

A horrendous warcry filled the air. Cicero bounded skyborne at Sloan and raised her halberd high for another devastating attack. Kyoko leapt at her but as the halberd came down it cleaved clean through the spear and continued toward Sloan. The helmet! Sloan tucked her head to absorb the blow with her one piece of armor. Despite its protection the blast rattled her skull and plowed her straight into the ground. Sloan had no time to collect her senses before Cicero bore down from above, halberd already raised. Ignoring all pain Sloan rolled to the side but she had no clue if she dodged or not because the impact of the axe hitting whatever it hit caused another seismic pulse that flung her far.

She hit the ground, bounced, rolled, stopped against a curb. Nausea and pain overwhelmed everything. Her sight blurred and odd colors crept across it. But eyesight was the issue she could fix. With a quick blink everything became coherent and Sloan's eyes settled on the arena between her and Cicero. Cicero wrenched her halberd from the ground and turned toward Sloan as the buildings behind her lost their support and crumbled down, bricks and beams and columns snapping, roofs caving inward, the ground rumbling with tremors. Ash and dust swept across the street as tenements collapsed into rubble, swallowing Cicero for a brief moment in their wispy sandstorm, but even in the obscurity her golden armor gleamed bright and vengeful.

(Chapter 37)