Maximilian knew that everything came down to this moment, to this one single fight. The final gift that Lyss left behind for Maximilian was lifted above her head and ripped in half. However, Maximilian did not stand there and watch, he dropped down to a single knee. Both hands were on either side of the man as he focused on Annabelle ripping the creature apart, piece by piece. He almost felt sorry for her, especially with everything that has happened to her. Despite it all, he knew that she had reached a point where she just had to be stopped, sympathy be damned. He just prayed for Agent Liao, she had a family, after all. Right when the golem was in shreds, Maximilian closed his eyes.

He launched himself at Annabelle like a rocket, disappearing in an instant as all that could be seen as the trail of disturbed dust. The unstoppable force met the immovable object as a massive wave of blue energy came from Annabelle's side as she was sent flying over. The brute slammed her claws into the ground and came to a stop and each of the screaming faces looked at Maximilian. Her head regenerated at an extremely fast rate and then she loudly roared as she charged Maximilian head-on. Maximilian dropped his weight as he anticipated her getting closer and closer - she raised a balled claw into the air, bringing it down with enough force to devastate even a tank, and Maximilian's fist collided with her hand. 

It negated the force of her own attack and knocked her off balance and Maximilian dropped his hands onto the ground. A massive blue crystal came out of the ground with explosive force, with enough to send Annabelle flying. She roared as she crashed into a building and quickly climbed to her feet as she grabbed two massive pieces of stone. She tossed them at Maximilian as the man jetted left and right in between them. However, when she tossed the stones, she quickly closed the distance and swiped her claw at Maximilian. Sending him flying through the air, for just a moment before he could get his bearings and activate his moment negating abstraction.

He shook his head as he oriented himself... and the first thing he saw was the gigantic Annabelle flying through the air towards him. [i]Crap[/i], he thought to himself as Annabelle grabbed him with both hands and slammed him into the ground. [i]Ouch,[/i] Maximilian thought to himself as he flew backward, stopping just [i]at[/i] the wall. Okay, it seemed that Annabelle had him outclassed in any upfront fight. He had to wonder where the rest of the Agents were. 

Annabelle grabbed an SUV and chucked it at Maximilian with one hand and Maximilian stuck his hand out. A blue beam of energy came out of his hand and the SUV was converted into harmless air. Annabelle pounded her hand into the ground as she pulled out bits and pieces of the sidewalk. Maximilian guessed what she was going to do with that when she flicked her wrist and sprayed him with the barrage of stone chunks. Maximilian slammed his foot into the ground as he created a barrier made out of crystals. One that was shattered when Annabelle Heart charged through it and lunged through it with both of her claws outstretched. 

Maximilian, on reflex, flew backward but Annabelle was already on top of him swinging her massive claw. Maximilian dove forward and punched her in the stomach with the same explosion of force as Annabelle slid backward. Maximilian flew forward and then punched her again and she retaliated by swinging back and hit Maximilian with enough force to send him rolling. Annabelle roared as she lept through the air and Maximilian quickly rolled out of the way and rocketed off out of the way. Annabelle landed - and with a hell of an impact as she went through the street into the sewers. 

Maximilian took this time to think of a quick strategy to take Annabelle down for good. He saw the building and pointed his hand at it and out came a blue beam of energy. It sliced through the building sideways as it converted all that it touched into the air... creating a cascading wave as the building fell on top of Annabelle in a cloud of dust and debris. He could hear her muffled roar from underneath it... and knew that this wouldn't hold her for long. She's taken too much damage to go out like this. 

Maximilian flew up into the air as he heard one boom, then another... then one final bang as Annabelle burst through the concrete. She roared as she sent stone in all directions and wondered how much can she possibly take... however, Maximilian had a different idea. He flew further away as he stuck both of his hands out and fired out the blue beams of energy. It converted everything around Annabelle into methane... which he triggered an explosion with one beam. It created a massive explosion that made Annabelle roar as she burned and burned and burned in pain. [i]Okay, so she probably doesn't like fire.[/i] Maximilian thought to himself as Annabelle leap out of the flames and flew towards him like a flaming meteor. He had to think fast as he flew out of the way... 

... But Annabelle caught his leg and he yelled in pain as he burned as she did as she slammed him onto the ground so hard that he bounced. Annabelle roared as she slammed her fist on him over and over again like she was a raging animal, but he quickly jetted out of her grasp the first second he could. He rolled back to his feet as Annabelle rushed him and he collided her claw with his elbow. The clash created an explosion of force that shattered Annabelle's hand and Maximilian realized that he was making progress. 

However, her tail was launched at him from over her shoulder and Maximilian barely dodged it by [i]inches[/i] as it broke asphalt. Though, Maximilian grabbed it and launched himself at Annabelle, bladed tail first, and stabbed her through the skull. Not that would really do anything, but Annabelle trashed around for a second as Maximilian punched Annabelle's leg behind the knee. He shattered her leg and she fell over as Maximilian punched her in the face and sent her flying across the floor until she hit the wall.

So it seems everything he threw against her didn't work... even though he was the strongest Awakened probably out there, he was getting pushed against the wall here. He panted as he took this opportunity to catch his breath... then he dropped his hands onto the ground, which violently vibrated as a massive spire came out of the ground and impaled Annabelle through the stomach. It quickly expanded and kept growing and growing and growing as Maximilian intended to cut her in half.

Annabelle thrashed and screamed... before she was cut in half from the middle and Maximilian just [i]hoped[/i] that would be the finishing blow. Except for Annabelle's upper body, spraying gore in all directions, clawed her way over to Maximilian like the world's most persistent animal.

"Oh, you gotta be fucking-" Maximilian hissed as she moved surprisingly fast even missing some legs. When she got close, Maximilian flew upwards and gave her an uppercut and when he was in the air he slammed her head-on with an ax hand that sent her flying to the earth. That was when Maximilian flew downwards and stomped her head with both legs, creating a massive shockwave that knocked cars over. That was when he kept stomping her over and over again.

"Why won't you..."

Stomp.

"... Fucking die!"

He stomped her again... but Annabelle's arm contorted when her arm whipped around and grabbed him and she threw him at a wall before she lunged at him. Maximilian rushed her head on and punched her in the face, stopping her momentum entirely. He swung around with a haymaker that sent Annabelle flying through the air... crashing through several buildings. He kept panting as he realized that he was [i]not[/i] going to win this fight at this rate, not with brute force like he originally thought.

"... [i]Maximilian! [/i]" He heard Cindy's voice in his radio... which was conveniently intact. "Where are you?"

He looked around at all of this chaos.

"... That's going to be hard to discern," Maximilian said. "Do you have the cure?"

"Yes!" Cindy answered. "Do you think you can disable her long enough for Helena to slip her the cure?"

Annabelle had already recovered and was charging him, dragging herself forward with her claws.

"... I have an idea," Maximilian shot upwards as an idea formed in his head... he can't beat Annabelle Heart with the current tools he had. She was too strong but he had other tricks up his sleeve. "Keep far away from me as possible!"

"What?" Cindy replied.

"Trust me!"

Maximilian sighed as he turned and rocketed off towards the edge of Tampa... where his plan would cause the least amount of damage. Annabelle chased after him like a ravenous bull, tearing apart what little of Tampa remained as she just wanted to kill Maximilian. Though, Maximilian was realizing that it was becoming apparent that he couldn't lure her out of the city limits before he got tired. He tried his best to get her at least far away from the escaping Coven as he could. 

He ended up in a suburb with Annabelle right behind him... and he stopped in mid-air as he said to himself. "Come on you bitch..." Maximilian hissed. "Come and get me...."

Annabelle came to an abrupt stop as she launched herself at Maximilian with such force that she created cracks in the ground. She roared as she stuck out both of her hands and Maximilian shot upwards as far and fast as he could to make sure that he was out of her reach. Annabelle soared past him and then hit the ground, crashing through some buildings. That was when Maximilian enacted his plan: he pointed out both of his hands and screamed at the top of his lungs as he fired one massive beam out of the blue light. It had the girth of a city block and it could be seen from all over Tampa... and probably beyond.

The beam [i]seemingly[/i] caused the ground that Annabelle was standing on to disappear. She fell into a deep crater as she roared on the way down... she hit the ground. Maximilian flew far away from the crater as he could, pointing a finger gun at her as he grinned. Annabelle was about to jump out of the crater but she stopped. Just frozen, as if her endless lust for blood had stopped for just a second. A distinct blue eye rolled into her empty eye socket as a tear went down her face. She knew what that smell was, and what Maximilian was doing...

Out of Maximilian's hand came the beam that would trigger the world's largest methane explosion. It created an enormous mushroom cloud followed by a shockwave so powerful that it could be felt for [i]dozens[/i] of miles away. The fireball was bright and incredibly powerful, so powerful that it reduced the area around it to ash. Sending rubble everywhere as Maximilian got far away as he could... thankfully dodging it. It took a few minutes for the dust to settle and then all that could be seen...

... Was the crater.

"Maximilian! What in the world did you just do!?" Cindy screamed over comms. 

He smiled as he said.

"I ended things."

[hr][center][hider=Soul Calibur III - Healing Winds][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIvyEZ5oWTY[/youtube][/hider][/center][hr]

... Or so he thought.

In the crater, there was a small amount of activity. Just in the dead center of it, something was moving. It was Annabelle Heart. Maximilian's final attack had reduced her to merely a fraction of what she originally was. She was reduced to a skeleton with burnt strips of flesh remaining... and she was still moving as she dragged herself forward out of the crater. Those strips of flesh were regenerating as she was attempting to form a new body for herself... however, she noticed somebody landing in front of her. 

Maximilian.

There was a low growl as she dragged herself towards him. He had the cure in his hand - given to him by Helena - as he sighed. He looked down at her and began to unscrew the lid to the potion... when a strange girl appeared out of nowhere and walked over towards Annabelle. Who seemed unafraid of the creature as she knelt down and gently stroked her head. 

"It's okay, Anna," Sophia said as tears streamed down her eyes. "It's okay... You can stop now."

Annabelle halted in place as Maximilian walked over to Annabelle Heart... a few minutes ago this girl seemed to be unstoppable. He unfinished unscrewing the lid as Sophia looked at him.... and nodded. He poured the potion onto Annabelle's exposed skull and the creature began to convulse over and over again. Before she stopped, was she dead for good? 

... Yes.
 
That was when an explosion of energy came out of Annabelle, Maximilian took a few steps back as all of the souls that were trapped in Annabelle's body were freed. They left in a whirling mass, disappearing into the sky... however, the spirit of one girl floated over to Maximilian and kissed him on the forehead before she flew off. Then they were gone, as quickly as they appeared. Maximilian sighed, looking down at Annabelle's corpse, and laughed. It was [i]finally[/i] over, she was defeated. They beat the odds.

"... You're gonna stop Saul, right?" Sophia asked as she looked at Maximilian. As the spirits of all of the people killed by Saul that faithful night appeared... with Annabelle appearing last. "This is all his fault."

"... I will," Maximilian said.

"Please do it, for us," Sophia said as she faded away. "For everyone, he has hurt."

Then she was gone.

Maximilian sighed.

[i]Looks like we're not out of the woods yet.[/i]