"FALL BACK!!"
"FALL BACK, DIANA!"
The comms screamed in her ear, Kelvin's voice cracking through it at a volume that was genuinely painful. She pulled the earpiece out mid-stride and threw it sideways into the water without looking and kept running.
Kruel watched her come.
He didn't move. Didn't shift his weight or raise his hands or do anything that suggested what was approaching him required preparation. He just stood at the edge of the deep ruins with the water around his feet and watched her close the distance with the mild attention of something that had seen a lot of things approach it and had stopped finding the approach part interesting.
Diana hit him with the Shoal Shield at full sprint.
The Living Reef expanded on contact, the layered segments fanning outward, and the Tidal Rebound released everything it had stored from the atmospheric entry and the landing and the three seconds of running and put all of it into Kruel at the point of contact.
