​     Tindriss opened her eyes. ​She got back to her feet, not unsteadily this time.

     She flew right at the anti-matter transmitter.

     Fast.  

​     A sizzling beam from the emitter knocked her out of the sky before she could get all the way to the weapon. She slammed into the ground, but then got back up again almost immediately. Claudia focused the ray on the Coal Maiden's mid-section and kept the ray sizzling.

     Tindriss started for the transmitter again. 

     Now she was, maybe, twenty feet away. 

     Step by step. 

     Although sometimes it took as long as five minutes to move an inch forward, she still kept coming. The ray separated the Coal-Maiden's chest in some bizarre way. It was like the lumpy, scaly blackness that was her ribcage came apart, then reformed. Her chest became like this swirling mass of black matter blasting into chaotic fragments. 

     Yet she still progressed forward. Step. By. Slow. Slow. Step.

     "I don't dare turn the ray off now," Claudia said.

     "So don't." 

     "All this anti-matter by-product. I'm not sure how long my force field will be able to contain it."

     Tindriss took the final step needed to reach the anti-matter transmitter.

     Her entire body came apart now, shattering into atoms, only to reform itself. It was like her body had become a whirlwind, swirling, reforming to, once again, become Tindriss. 

      Oh my dear Infini, Adam thought. Can anything bring this woman down?

​     Tindriss punched clean through the emitter. The rays stopped. Then she proceeded to tear it to pieces with her bare hands. She swayed. The red fire in her eyes glowed at a low ebb. Her jaw hung slack like she was thirsty and about ready to pant. 

     "Think we've softened her up enough, yet?" Adam asked. 

     "Not quite yet. I've got one last present for her. I'm going to let you inside the force filed now, but, as soon as I do, I need you to pop out of the Stargod, Adam. Grab every weapon you can, then eject."

     "Got it. On it."

     "And Adam?"

     "Yes, my darling."

     "Remember me until the end of time, Adam," and, with that, Claudia's voice went away.

​CONTINUE