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A bombardment of ice and lightning arrived as the flock whipped toward him. He had to jet out of the way, unfortunately. If the suit was still able to regenerate properly, he would have simply ignored the attack--or even leaned into it, perhaps, and countered. He couldn't be so reckless here. The longer this fight went on, the more his resources dwindled.

He had the mini-missiles, though. They were one of the few systems that was still fully operational, regeneration and all.

For now, at least.

He deployed another quarter portion from each arm, and this time, both sets connected immediately. He would've been thrown off course completely if not for the suit's automated impact mitigation system. It excelled in helping him maintain optimal flight speed while in close proximity to his own targeted explosions.

The flock shriveled back, but it wasn't defeated. It would soon return, Abbas knew--probably sooner than his missiles finished regenerating, but he still had two more quarter portions on each arm if that happened.

He soared out of the smoke cloud, still intent on catching Crowe before he could attack the civilians.

But Crowe had turned around to face him--with four more flocks swirling around him, no less.

Crowe still wasn't fully regenerated from the earlier hit Abbas had landed. Another solid blow, perhaps to the head this time, might just finish him--at least for this fight.

It was like Crowe was daring him to go for it.

The four flocks were a challenge. If they were the ones to land a solid hit on him, they could probably penetrate his armor and weaken him enough to give Crowe a decisive advantage.

Or just outright kill him. That was unlikely, though.

Regardless, Abbas didn't intend to take such a risk. He had Crowe's attention again. That was all he needed in order to keep the civilians safe a little longer.

Maybe Crowe had a hard time comprehending that. Abbas didn't give a damn about proving which of them was stronger. Bravado was not a factor in his thinking.

Only the objective. The civilians. His kin.