Long moments after the shadow seal had been cast, Shinsou watched hopelessly as Felicity defiantly struggled free of his powerful binds amongst the rubble strewn chamber. He gasped as her intense radiation forced him to crumple pathetically to his knee amidst the unbearable heat and waves of sickness sweeping over him, and looking up through watery, blistered eyes, the warrior damned it all. He lamented the fact that this uncontrollable beserker power his apprentice wielded had just carved through all but one of his most dangerous and well trained magical abilities with barely an afterthought. Even without an arm, tearing through his Shin no Kotei, she still tried to reach him.

As Shinsou simply looked on in stunned stillness, shocked by the absolute and terrifying inevitability of what was to come, he didn't know what to do. Part of him was still reeling from the fact that it had all been so quick. Part of him didn’t want to acknowledge that a trained, skilled man – who had moments before been on his feet and confident - now lay fallen and burning in pools of his own blood and melting skin. All that was left in the wake was his approaching apprentice.

Citadel be damned. If she loses control like this, out there...

His words echoed in his mind through the shimmering veil of faintness that obscured him from reality, harsh, sibilant, final. They only served to emphasise Shinsou's helplessness in the situation, the fact that from start to finish he had thought himself powerful enough to be able to contain her, should Felicity lose it. Now, though, the truth was dawning. He could only be a bystander in a confrontation.

...Like Arius.

He who prided herself on speed of thought and swiftness of action. He who had hoped to avoid the very situation out there that had just played itself out in here before his very eyes. The thought sped powerlessly through his mind as he tried to focus again, his Enpera held like a club in his peeling hands, his white coat forlornly burning at the seams. He felt instantly sick for the fact that getting her to control her power seemed such a hopeless proposition now. This time, there was no-one else who could see the dangers. But what was he to do? Shinsou could not abandon her, not out here to the mercy of whoever wanted to rid the world of her threat, or to the elements that would certainly claim her if he gave up on her now. The Brotherhood’s leader had risked a great deal to help her.

Helping her, now, meant exerting control over this situation. Which, in turn, meant dealing with the girl who was now within reach. Her immensely powerful rage could be seen pulsating through her glowing veins, pushing her forward with every beat of her heart.

Her heart.

Shinsou could see the luminous organ through her skin. He was far more skilled than her at hand-to-hand combat, but he couldn’t even be sure that he could move any faster than she could in this cloud of radiation. Pale slender hands quavered faintly as their raw, blistered fingers outstretched. Felicity’s heart was palpitating wildly within her breast, a trapped songbird struggling all aflutter to be set free. Then, she lunged, her arm clenching his right shoulder. The grip was surprisingly cold but immensely strong, and a wave of agony swept through Shinsou’s stomach as her fingers dug in and shattered the bones in his shoulder.

He would never know how he managed to maintain an exterior façade of strength, but Shinsou did the only thing he could think to do against the mind-melting power of her abilities. Willing his dark matter to his left hand, he commanded a blade of the magic towards the enraged apprentice’s beating heart. Tremblingly it obeyed, the solid, volatile magic making no sound whatsoever over the top of the chaotic deluge as it lanced forwards.