“Come on, boss!” Bonnie shouted, urging him on. She must have noticed him pondering what was happening from where he stood, but any further motivational calls were cut short: Kegan gave Bonnie one look and then leapt at her. The distance between the two was very small, but Bonnie had managed, by some miracle, to evade him by flinging herself to the side.

Lucas saw Kegan twist his axe around horizontally and anticipated the attack he was about to make, dropping to the ground himself. “Stay down!” he shouted. The air crackled as Kegan unleashed his attack, sending out an orange wave of energy in all directions, and a scar from the slash appeared chest-high on every wall in the room.

That answers my question about the attack’s range, Lucas thought as he began building up three charges of Chain Lightning.

Bonnie pushed herself up and charged straight at Kegan, but the moment she got within striking distance, he did a mad whirl, sweeping his blade in a 360-degree horizontal arc around himself. The attack didn’t have the same extended range as the whirlwind maneuver. She had been about to stab him when the cyclone of steel kicked up, and Lucas could only watch on in horror as Kegan’s blurry-looking axe moved like a passing shadow. A loud crack sounded as the bone in her arm being split in two and was then followed by her piercing scream. Bonnie fell over backward, sans one arm, and landed on her rear. She began scooting away with her tail dragging along underneath her, and Kegan slammed his blade downward hard. He just missed her as she crawled off, her severed nub leaving a trail of blood as she dug her way through the rubble in a desperate crawl to safety.

Lucas grimaced when he saw how much pain she was suffering and wondered why or how anyone could play like that. Why do you still have your pain sensors on normal levels?

The second Bonnie cleared the six-foot radius around Kegan, Lucas saw the opportunity he had been waiting for. He let loose the three charges of Chain Lightning all at once. Kegan screamed out in pain as the attacks struck him, the previously-unburned patches of skin turned black and charred, and half of his face began sizzling as it melted.

“It’s all on you, boss,” Bonnie cried out. She continued dragging herself away, meanwhile pulling her backpack off her back with her one remaining good hand and digging into it the second she was out of danger’s way.