Then, and only then, when the ebony hedgehog was back to square one could he even begin to devise a means of counter-attack. Time left to be on the princess' side. Her silhouette seen walking away, leaving her compromised hiding spot with her victim in the dust.

Once he was even that far, his quick escape route lied at the bottom of the corrupted waters. So either Shadow would need to dive in and waste time recovering the gem, or further push himself by running all that way back from where he came. Either way, he would still need to hurt to get ahead.

Lying face-down, with his wounds flush against the conflicting icy stone and the radiant red discharge. Insurance that he would have to fight to contort himself and further agonize to even sit back upright, to tear more of himself apart the moment he would have the energy to recover.

"ᵢ ₖₙₒw ₜₕᵢₛ wᵢₗₗ ₙₒₜ bₑ yₒᵤᵣ ₑₙd, bᵤₜ ᵢₜ *wᵢₗₗ* ₛₜₐₗₗ yₒᵤ."

"˙ɯıɥ *pǝlıɐɟ* puɐ uʍo ɹnoʎ uo *ɟɟo uɐɹ* noʎ ʍoH ˙pǝuǝddɐɥ ʇɐɥʍ ɹǝɥʇıǝ *ɯıɥ* llǝʇ noʎ ʇǝl ʇ,uoʍ ǝpıɹd ɹno⅄"

"𝓢𝓸 𝓘 𝓮𝔁𝓹𝓮𝓬𝓽 𝓪 *𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓵* 𝓯𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽 𝓸𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓵- 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓷𝓼, 𝓲𝓽 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓫𝓮 𝓽𝓸𝓸 𝓵𝓪𝓽𝓮."

A final kick to flip Shadow over.

A cross of either arm for theatrics, then, a toss of the organ left still jittering in her unfeeling hand and the emerald alike into the pools on either side of the pathway. Both thrown like garbage to sink below the water's surface, and blood to taint the ever clear well into a murky rust.

A leg to lift up high, kicking the fallen savior back to lie in the pool of inky vermillion. Both hands taking hold of their respective prizes. Heart in one hand, emerald in the other. Sally's metallic boot pinned to the lifeform's stomach just opposite of his gaping wound.

" 🄰🄽🄳 🄹🅄🅂🅃 🅃🄾 🄱🄴 🅂🅄🅁🄴- "

The tip of her energy blade shooting out from within, slicing through ventricles and arteries alike. A clean cut away to quickly take the very piece of Shadow he promised to her former lover. Not enough that she had once held Sonic's and abused it, but now to manifest metaphors into reality on his.

"𝕌𝕟𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕦𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕝𝕪, 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕤 𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕗𝕦𝕝 𝕗𝕠𝕣."

A final squeeze to the heart that clamped down in an titanium grip.

"ꜱᴀʏᴏɴᴀʀᴀ, ꜱʜᴀᴅᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴇᴅɢᴇʜᴏɢ."

Her wrist lighting up from within, shining bright from beneath the blood-stained white tuft of fur on the dark hedgehog's chest.

A mere, static hum once she had the bare minimum of returning to form without reliance upon her master. Her laser crowned back upon her head, held high above Shadow's crumbling frame only left standing from her arm burrowed deep.

"Thank you, Shadow."

"You aren't a total 𝖋𝖆𝖎𝖑𝖚𝖗𝖊 after all."

The proof manifest in Shadow's one success coming undone. Weaponry built back together piece by piece out of the hedgehog's deadly grasp. Shadow forced to watch, as not for a moment had her hand rested it's pulsating rhythm within his chest to ensure herself to be back at high performance.

Cogs and internal hard drives clamoring, snapping back into place with software correcting longstanding errors within her mainframe. Not quite healing, but fixing just enough to run as the Doctor intended for it was the dominant conscious within. A retention of self over the primary self.

Not a fool to be folly in momentary victory. Rather, focused entirely to ensure that she had left her mark- snuff out a hedgehog who insisted on making himself a barrier to her warped goals. Synthesized deep breaths as the same power that ensured Shadow's torment didn't end passed down the wire.