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Hector used the opportunity to accomplish two things simultaneously. First was simply adding to the chain around Silvia. The links grew thicker and more numerous, now carrying enough mass to actually weigh the woman down and give her a reason to break them--which Hector anticipated would not be a problem for her. Hence, the purpose of his second task. An iron meteor. It had served fairly well against Karkash, so he hoped it would do even better against someone without magnetic control.

He was quickly disappointed.

In spite of creating it faster than he could against Karkash, he still only managed to make about half the mass he wanted before Silvia noticed and decided that it was her turn to multitask. A cesium spear shot straight up and punched a hole through the iron like tissue paper, splitting it, exploding it, and knocking it off course. And simultaneously, she fired a second spear directly at Hector.

Shield raised, he braced himself.

The cesium exploded upon contact. Whether it was due to the impact or merely the rain, Hector could not tell, but he was quite surprised to find that the shield absorbed the blow very well, only pushing him back about a meter or so when he’d been expecting to be sent through a building. He glanced at the broadside of the shield another time and saw that it was scuffed but not at all structurally compromised.

Silvia seemed surprised as well, but she didn’t get the chance to attack him again. A wave of molten quartz fell upon her, glowing harshly orange and yellow. It boiled the flesh off her bones in a matter of seconds, offering a faint hiss of steam with each drop of rain that fell upon it.

A vest provided Silvia with some protection, but Hector could see actual bone through the melted skin and muscle of her arms and skull. The quartz left her slowed, and Jada and Hector both capitalized--Jada with bullets, Hector with a materialized broadsword.

‘Go for the limbs,’ said Garovel while Hector was mid-sprint. ‘Decapitation won’t work.’

Hector went for her left arm and got it, severing it at the shoulder. One of Jada’s bullets caught Silvia right in the forehead, splattering brain matter out the back of her skull.

Yet it was not enough. Silvia was still moving, still regenerating; and she still managed to swirl up and dropkick Hector square in the chest.