As the distortion loosened its last grip on the air, Khalifa's finally felt the terrifying nature of the boom more clearly. The atmosphere deflated, like a high pressure balloon being punctured. In a split of a fraction of a second, the room took sides.
The half where Ronan had knelt was no longer a half, but a wall of infernal fury. Oxygen rushed in, setting of a what seemed like fusion, momentarily forming a localised star at the heart of it. Heat and light seared outwards, bleached darkness into blinding light. The roar was concussive, bursting against Khalifa's eardrums like doomsday bells. Still, she was lucky, at least in relation to other things. She was just outside of the direct radius, but that didn't put her out of the reach of the other nasty things that accompanied explosions. The shock wave caught her just as her vision clicked back, knocking her backwards through the air. She kept on flight mode until she slammed into far metal wall, leaving everything about her flailing in pain.
Beneath her, the metal floor hummed. The sudden inflow of thermal energy didn't just increase heat, it turned the floor into a frying pan glowing with an angry red aura. It rushed into her body, sending acrid smells up her nose as her boots and clothes burned along side skin. She gagged, trying to take a breath of the air that had been tanned sterile.
On the plus side, the beasts that had been crowding Ronan hadn't just been defeated, they had been obliterated. All that remained of them was the ash that was violently spewed out of the swirling hell. Sadly, they wouldn't be able to benefit from their cores, but it was still better than being eaten alive– maybe.
With the darkness vanquished, Khalifa finally saw what the shadows had been concealing. High above, butting heads with the ceiling that stood many cathedrals tall, were massive vents. Some were broken, hanging off their hinges like dead tongues, other coated with blood that oddly resembled that of humans', but a few remained clear. They looked like filters or giant battery cells. But that was a puzzle for later. Everything on Ronan's half probably didn't exist anymore, but that still left quite a hand full of predators on hers. The flames had dropped dramatically because metal wasn't a good medium for it to burn, but it remained persistent in rolling oranges, illuminating the room for the final gamble.
The predators that hadn't been caught in the blast rushed at Khalifa with renewed madness. Their barky skin smoked from the heat, leaving them looking like wrathful apparitions of primal terror. Khalifa scrambled to her feet, trying to balance her gravity on her good leg. She was wobbly, but she raised her machete anyway.
The first one of the rushing pack reached her, leaping off the glowing floor with hungry vigor. She grunted, forcing a hasty strike to connect with the predator midair. Due to her poor footing, the strike lacked the power needed to bite deep enough into the beast to be fatal. Despite that, it was enough to break its path, sending it skipping across the tanging metal, only for it to spring back up instantly.
She took a step back, wanting to corner herself into the edge again. She didn't, because without Ronan, the rhythm necessary to make good use of that strategy might be too much for her to pull off alone. She zipped forward, trying to take the initiative in hopes of catching them off guard. The predator lunged back, running at speeds she would be unable to match even when she had two good legs.
The claw whistled past her ear as she barely dodged the swing. Another lunge came from the side, but her body responded early enough this time, allowing her to parry. Desperation rattled through her teeth sharper than the pain did. She tried to trigger distortion, but her emptiness rejected her like a second will. Nothing was left, but muscle and bone.
The creature smelt the advantage. No direct attack was going to yield good results, so they went for the next best thing.
Change.
They circled her in jagged patterns, forcing her to seemingly spilt perception to track their movements. One darted low, taking advantage of her damaged leg to put her into a dire state. She understood it knew, but it didn't understand that humans weren't akin to following convention.
'To hell with you!"
With an unhinged smile, she took a step back, then slammed her foot into it with all the strength she had left. Its eye burst, giving her a reason to endure the immense pain that scurried up her leg in the next second. But she had left herself open with the unwise action. A second predator raked across her ribs, giving the hot air a place to rush into.
She roared silently, holding back the wail that was supposed to replace it. Another predator darted for her, but she blocked it with the handle of her blade which she had held upside down. The one that had earlier raked her ribs rushed back, sinking its teeth freely into her other arm.
She stumbled, but didn't fall. Falling here meant never getting back up. With gritted teeth she pushed back the body of the one she had blocked, pivoting into an elbow strike unto the neck of the one clamped to her arm. With a dry crunch, the bark protecting its vital broke, allowing her elbow to drop deeper into its body. It writhed painfully, loosening its hold on her arm as it shrieked. She dropped her weapon, gripping at its jaw with her both hands. A moment passed with her eyes tearing up with blood as she ripped open its head. Its insides splashed, but she felt hers move too.
She winced and looked at the hill of dimming flames. "Don't you dare leave me..."
The final round had begun, with only five predators left alive. But to be the last living said something. Either they were the strongest, or most lucky. Khalifa wiped the blood off her eyelids, feeling every nerve in her body ached in one continuous chorus. She rushed forward at the same time the beasts did. She pushed of the wall, bouncing off towards the predator at the rear end. It saw her coming, and leapt for her as well. Khalifa feinted to the side, crashing her knee and then her blade into its skull.
The battle had reached its bottleneck. At this point, looking at her kills was physically painful. Another drove at her, catching her murderous glance before she pummeled it into the ground, rolling along side it on searing metal. It tried to stand, but she pinned its hind legs, then sank her blade into its algae covered neck.
Across the room, doused in shimmering heat, Ronan looked up with eyes that looked like they had seen the dead. He was slumped against the hide of a half-burnt predator, watching Khalifa move through the field of few straws. She was matted with blood and wild with pain, but to him, she was a flame that even time could not put out.
He was looking like a flame too, but in a much more literal sense. He wasn't as bloodied as she was, but was just as hurt. His clothes had fused with his skin, and his skin with the metal ground. The fire had touched every cubic metre of him. And his spirit had been almost completely drained, with only a few drops sitting at the bottom of the well. It ached from his roots, hollowing him out with each pang. He tried to stand, but he was a passenger in his own body, and the driver did not fancy that idea.
In the end, all he could was watch Khalifa slowly thin the numbers blade after blade, until she eventually pulled through. She parried the last predator, ignored the strike it landed on her shoulder, thrusting a final blow into its abdomen.
Silence returned, broken only by the beating of flame and their harsh breaths. Khalifa stood where the last predator had died, wondering if she had actually done it. Her body had endured so much that it had turned numb, allowing her to actually enjoy her victory. Hearing the other breath in the room, she smiled knowing Ronan was still alive.
Both were alive. And for now, in the heart of the siege fortress, that was all that mattered.