[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/190412/e4dbf397d85ea4a514a02d2553a44c17.png[/img]
[b][color=burlywood]Level 3 - (21/30) + 2 = (23/30) - 1 from Friend Heart = (22/30) 
Difficulty Level 2
Location: Charnal Lane
Word Count: 824[/color][/b][/center]
As soon as preparations were done, Nero goaded the ent on and drew its attention. As the ent turned to face the heroes and its hollows burrowed up from the ground, the fight was on. Gene mostly held back and dealt with the hollows, as Nero and the others attacked the ent. Ratchet threw a few proximity mines at it (and put to use one of the abilities he had gained from the fallen Zer0), Jak blasted it with his gun, and Blazermate's sentry and horde of undead began an assault as well. Overall, the fight was going well. As the shockwave came by, Gene quickly leapt high into the air, just barely clearing it... And falling onto his ass not long after, grunting in mingled pain and annoyance. He'd have to learn how to make a proper landing.

The battle continued on, with Gene's allies attacking anything that wasn't each other. Blazermate pointed out that the ent had a weak spot, right on its upper back, and the others took advantage of this revelation as soon as they could. Ratchet blasted it in the back while Donnie covered the beast in alcohol and lit it up; however, their attacks weren't enough to set the ent ablaze. It was, however, enough to make it mad. It let out a screech and thrashed its arms around wildly at whoever was near it.

As Gene put down another hollow, he noticed Nero soaring at the beast via a wire attached to one of its flailing arms. He retracted the wire just as he hit the weak spot, revved up his sword, and slammed down in a fiery spin while yelling "DOUBLE DOWN!" as a way to call out his move. It seemed that Nero's attack had worked, because now he was on the beast and pummeling its weak spot! Gene let out a cheer at the sight. Nero was killing it!

Then, it was all over in a flash. The ent released some sort of toxic gas that sent Nero flying backwards. Gene's cheers gave way to a gasp of shock. What the hell!? He didn't have time to focus on Nero though, as the ent shot more of the stuff at him and his buddies! Gene's quick reflexes saved him from the first blast with a fast sidestep, and he acted quickly enough to backflip out of the way of the other one. Covering his mouth with his hands, he sprinted through the gas as quick as possible to reach Nero. He noticed another enemy type starting to show up, as well as a fresh wave of hollows from the ground, but he couldn't let that distract him.

Donnie had thankfully reached Nero and cast a spell that seemed to help him out a bit by the time Gene arrived. He wasn't sure just [i]why[/i] he was so dedicated to saving Nero, but then he remembered what it was that drew him to Nero in the first place. Some sort of strange bond between souls, worlds apart but with the same spirit at their core. Nero was recovering slightly from Donnie's intervention, but Gene knew there was something he could do to help.

[color=burlywood][b]"Uh, this might seem weird, so just bear with me."[/b][/color] As if on instinct, he placed a hand on his heart then raised his arms to the air. A bright pink heart appeared in his hands. [color=burlywood][b]"Woah! Okay, here we go!"[/b][/color] Gene passed the heart over to Nero. [color=burlywood][b]"Alright, stay calm, don't die. I've got an ent to beat the crap out of!"[/b][/color] With those words, he headed straight for the ent.

Donnie had done some damage to it already thankfully. Now Gene just had to help finish the job. Placing a hand on the Deistic Brace, Gene ripped it off and [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEpGs3STXMY]felt the power of a god flow through him[/url], as he had so many times before. Alright, he had to make this count! Approaching the ent, Gene circled around it from behind and then jumped up onto its weak point. Other people wouldn't be able to do this, but with the God Hand's added invulnerability, he'd be able to make a dent without having to worry about the toxin!

Taking in a deep breath to psych himself up, Gene grinned and then began to lay the beatdown on the ent's weak point. He hammered it with his regular combo, occasionally throwing in a kick when he felt like shaking things up. The rapid hits he had gone for with this combo helped immensely in laying down the heat quickly and efficiently. To finish off his barrage of attacks, he jumped up into a spinning barrel kick, delivering a final blow to the ent that sent him falling off of its back.

Backflipping away from the ent, Gene then focused on weeding out the Rot Warts while he still had some invincibility left. He just hoped that Nero would be alright.