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Vin cried out as they drew closer, throwing herself a1gainst Ruin again, trying to drive her power to destroy the thing As before, she was rebuffed She felt herself screa deaths below It would be like the tsunami deaths on the coast, only worse

For these were people she knew People she loved

She turned back toward the entrance She didn't want to watch, but she wouldn't be able to do anything else Her self was everywhere Even if she pulled her nexus away, she knew that she'd still feel the deaths--that they would make her tre, she sensed a familiar voice "Today, , though she couldn't see into the cavern because of the metals in the rock She could hear, however If she'd had eyes, she would have been crying, she knew

"I ask of you your lives," Elend said, voice echoing, "and your courage I ask of you your faith, and your honor--your strength, and your compassion For today, I lead you to die I will not ask you to welco it well, or just, or even glorious But I will say this

"Each ift to those in this cavern Each second we fight is a second longer that thousands of people can draw breath Each stroke of the sword, each koloss felled, each breath earned is a victory! It is a person protected for a er, a life extended, an enemy frustrated!"

There was a brief pause

"In the end, they will kill us," Elend said, voice loud, ringing in the cavern "But first, they shall fear us!"

The men yelled at this, and Vin's enhanced mind could pick out around two hundred and fifty distinct voices She heard the toward the different cavern entrances A moment later, someone appeared froure in white slowly stepped out into the ash, brilliant white cape fluttering He held a sword in one hand

Elend! she tried to cry at hi them is madness! You'll be killed!

Elend stood tall, watching the waves of koloss as they approached, tra down the black ash, an endless sea of death with blue skin and red eyes Many carried swords, the others just bore rocks and lengths of wood Elend was a tiny white speck before thele dot on an endless canvas of blue

He raised his sword high and charged

ELEND!

Suddenly, Elend burst with a brilliant energy, so bright that Vin gasped Hesword and decapitating the creature in one stroke Then, instead of ju Another koloss fell Three swords flashed around him, but alla koloss in the sto beneath another swing--and took off a koloss arm

He still didn't Push hi as he took down one koloss, then beheaded another in a single, fluid stroke Elend race she had never seen from him--she had always been the better warrior, yet at this moment, he put her to sha part in a prerehearsed stage fight, body after body falling before his gliding blade

A group of soldiers i1n Elend's colors burst froht, their forms exploded with power They, too,with incredible precision Not a single one of theht withjust a little too late Blue corpses began to pile up around the glowing force of men

Somehow, Elend had found an entire arod

He'd never burned atium before, and his first experience with the metal filled him onder The koloss around hies thatElend exactly what they would do He could see into the future, if only a few seconds In a battle, that was just what one needed

He could feel the atiu all of the new information He didn't even have to pause and think His ar his sith awesoes, striking at flesh, feeling alain No koloss could stand against hi For a time, he was invincible He'd sed so many atium beads he felt as if he'd throw up For its entire history, atiu thatit had seely, only in instances of great need

Elend didn't need to worry about any of that He just burned as much as he wanted And it made him into a disaster for the koloss--a ind of exact strikes and ies, always a few steps ahead of his opponents Foe after foe fell before hiet low on atium, he Pushed himself off a fallen sword back to the entrance There, with plenty of water to wash it down, Sazed waited with another bag of atium

Elend downed the beads quickly, then returned to the battle

Ruin raged and spun, trying to stop the slaughter Yet, this time, Vin was the force of balance She blocked Ruin's every atte it contained