Klein's raised staff formed a concentrated lance of water that hovered at its tip. His green eyes were locked on her calmly, with no emotions present in them.
Whoosh!
The lance shot toward Sierra's exposed heart at a speed her body couldn't match. Her four elemental bows were gone. Her escape arrow, the one she used for emergency repositioning, had already been spent to break Baaron's earlier charge. She had nothing left to help her in this moment.
The betrayal hurt more than the approaching lance. Klein, the man who had stood beside her at Silverpine. The Ascender the Association trusted to oversee this tournament. The one who had been playing a longer game than any of them had understood.
~BOOM~
The lance struck, and steam exploded into the air.
Sierra flinched as the eruption of superheated mist rolled over her.
