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~~Holiday Special (Day 6/7, Page 6/6)~~
And due to the odd angle at which he’d caught her, Hector landed with a swirling flourish. He was about to lay her down, expecting her to at least be disoriented, but that didn’t seem to be the case. She looked just as clear-eyed as ever and got back on her feet straight away.

And it was a good thing, too, because Andres wasn’t letting up. He didn’t bother attending to Desmond at all, and instead launched a wave of fist-sized crystals at them. Hector raised a metal wall, and Lynnette added a purple coating to it. The crystals shattered on impact.

Hector already knew that Lynn’s shadow was more resilient than Geoffrey’s had been, but he was continually surprised by how much. Over the course of their training, he’d made multiple attempts to break through her shadow with a soul-empowered punch, but he had never once succeeded. Even after he’d started using enhanced strength and sent her flying, Lynn had described his punches as feeling like nothing more than a friendly pat on the arm.

Lynnette retracted her shadow while Hector destroyed his wall and prepared another javelin. She went first, diving headlong through Andres’ storm of crystals and forcing him back again.

Which was another thing Hector didn’t understand: how Andres could launch his crystals the way he did. The man hadn’t thrown them. He’d merely put one hand forward, and the crystals shot forth as soon as they appeared. Hector very much wanted to know how that was possible, but now wasn’t the best time to ask Garovel for an explanation.

Lynnette kept pressing and finally caught one of Andres’ arms with her blade. The man tried to use it as an opportunity to hit her with a crystal fist, but a javelin flew into the man’s chest, completely knocking him off balance. And Lynn sliced his head off.

Desmond had removed the metal from his face by now and was still waiting for his legs to regrow as Andres’ head rolled toward him. When he looked up to see Lynnette and Hector bearing down upon them, he grinned and said, “Well, then! Try this one!”

And Desmond’s entire body began to darken and sizzle.