The strange thing about sonic booms, and the objects travelling so fast that they create them, is that by the time you have heard the boom in question the object will have already passed you by. Such is the nature of going faster than the speed of sound.

It is that phenomena that leads to the saying of the snipers shot. Put simply, it says that if you are ever being targeted by a sniper, you should not really fear the crack of their shots. If you are alive long enough to hear that bang then you should let out a sigh of relief as that shot was not meant for you, or the sniper in question is simply a poor marksmen and is currently readjusting his aim, in which case you should probably stop sighing and start running.

Put even more simply, the shot that will be your ultimate doom, is the one shot that you will never hear.

Now, it should be noted that Alexandra had never been to war and had never faced a sniper trying to kill her. In fact she had never even heard of that saying, it simply hadn't come up in her simple farm life, surprisingly enough.

Despite that, however, she had a first hand experience to help her understand that phenomena.

By the time she heard the deafening boom of the sound barrier being shattered like a brick through glass, she was already laying on her back and skidding to a halt after the devastating collision.

Alexandra had not heard the man flying through the air by the power of a simple flick of his fingers, as he was out-speeding sound itself. Nor had she seen him approaching her, not only because he was moving faster than the eye could track but simply because her back was facing his approach.

But she absolutely did feel his impact, as his head slammed into her back, which was already torn to shreds by the demons whip. Her stone skin shattered, a deep crater appearing in its surface as she was thrown from her feet, tumbling head over heels, until she eventually skidded to a halt and found herself laying on her back.

Her hands were clutched against her chest, keeping Cynthia safe in her grasp, as she let out a trembling and strained breath. Her lungs quivering from the impact as she tried to fill them with air once again.

She could hear Cynthia talking, her words were fast and panicked, probably asking if she was okay and rambling. It was cute, but Alexandra couldn't focus on the words themselves. Her head was spinning too much.

Sitting up, she took a few moments to steady herself, and looked towards her aggressor. She had expected him to follow up on that devastating attack, to pummel her while she was disorientated but instead he was just... standing there.

Standing where she had just stood, his hands dangling lazily by his sides. He wasn't even looking at her, the only thing moving was the pumps of the mechanical backpack he wore, which were supplying his lungs with oxygen.

It sort of reminded her of Seth's puppets. The docile and lifeless way they stood, waiting for orders. It was creepy with the unliving things he used but seeing it on a person, especially a person covered in medical equipment that completely covered his face, was even creepier.

He didn't even seem human.

Clambering to her feet, rolled her shoulder to loosen it from the impact, and noticed something in the sky. A small dot, gradually growing larger as it approached. By the time she could start to make out the arms and legs of this dot, making it a person flying towards her, the unmoving man began to move once again.

On the ground far below this towering giant, he leaned forwards ever so slightly, aiming his head at her once again, before launching himself upwards with a slight boost of his feet, as if he was trying to do the smallest jump in the world.

An attempt he would fail at, as the ground exploded underneath him and he launched into the air like a bullet again.

Alexandra's head whipped backwards as he slammed his forehead into hers and, despite the serious size difference between the pair, it was Alexandra that was sent stumbling backwards while the man stopped dead in the air from the shift in momentum.

He didn't stay there for long, as gravity started to pull him down, but before he could fall lower than Alexandra's head, he lashed out again.

His arm shot forward as he performed a truly uncoordinated and lazy punch, yet even without pulling his arm back and moving the least amount possible, when his fist collided with her cheek, it was like being punched by the Demon ten times over.

Stone exploded outwards, massive beads of spittle shot from her mouth along with colossal teeth bigger than a house, as Alexandra was sent reeling again.

The force of the punch sent them both flying in opposite directions. Alexandra crashed into the ground, bouncing across its surface like a stone skipping along a lake as she crushed trees and churned up dirt in the process.

The lazy combatant Cratos on the other hand, stopped in mid air and bobbed for a few seconds, before shooting towards Alexandra once more. His body remaining completely still, his arm still outstretched from the punch, as he flew not by his own power.

Instead, the dot in the sky which had grown into a man was responsible for this. The Psychic, which was lending his eyes to Cratos, had a cruel smirk on his face as he dragged the weapon through the air.

Alexandra pushed herself from the ground, rubbing her throbbing jaw and heard it pop as she set it back into place.

A small puddle of cyan slime wriggled from her grasp, leapt onto her chest and slithered up quickly to her ear.

"Baby... Baby can you hear me?! Size really isn't working in your favour here. This guy is stronger, you need agility on your side. Please... I wanted to thank you for what you did for me... So please don't die before I have a chance to thank you properly."

Alexandra chuckled softly to herself and nodded her head. Her little Jellybean was right, she usually was.

Shifting to her knees, she raised her hand and splayed her fingers, pointing her palm towards the approaching Cratos, who was flying through the air looking like a terrible Superman action figure.

The stones making up her palm shifted, her rough and rugged skin started to bulge, before a colossal boulder shot from her palm like a bullet. It wasn't nearly as fast as Cratos' sound barrier shattering finger flick, but since it was still faster and bigger than a frieght train, it didn't need to be that fast.

As the train sized boulder flew towards him, Cratos swept his arm down from his punch position, batting it to the side like it was nothing more than a worthless pebble, only to be met with another boulder exactly like it rapidly following the first.

Those two were not alone.

An avalanche of colossal boulders launched from Alexandra's palm like a machine gun and at the same time, her body began to shrink. The more boulders she shot, the faster she shrunk. But it wasn't fast enough.

So while she was busy expelling part of her increased body mass from one hand, she clenched her other fist and concentrated. Stones launched from her right arm, as the craggy skin on her left arm started to shift.

The stones that made up her skin like scales pressed together, closing the crevices they had between each other as they fused into one, then began to shrink as she forcefully compressed them.

Cynthia was right, against this man she was going to need the ability to dodge those devastating blows. But her size also gave her increased defence and strength. So she simply had to reduce that size, and keep the benefits of it.

Cratos pulled his head back before thrusting it forwards, the second surprise boulder shattering like glass against his unbreakable forehead. With every boulder that was launched at him, he kept headbutting. But no matter how little he moved his head, the avalanche pouring from Alexandra's hand became too much, leaving him not even enough time to complete the motion.

Boulders pelted his face, still shattering against his skull, but leaving deep cuts and scraps along his once indestructible skin.

The Psychic above grit his teeth, forcing Cratos through the barrage and doing his best to flick the boulders from his path with his telekinetic abilities. But by this point, the giantess had shrunk so much that the boulders were becoming an even more rapid barrage of stone bullets, this time the size of actual bullets.

Cratos was forced to raise his hands, curling behind them like a boxer, while the Psychic placed him on the ground and erected a telekinetic shield to protect him from the barrage.

Some of the stone bullets still managed to blast their way through, before they ripped and tore into Cratos' bare arms, some of them even embedding themselves, while others shattered on impact still.

The Psychic, and thus Cratos, had lost sight of her by this point but the barrage had finally stopped.

Narrowing his eye from the sky, the Psychic strained himself to see through the looming cloud of stone dust, when he finally noticed a shadow racing towards Cratos. A shadow the size of a normal man.

The Psychic smirked as the blind Cratos uncurled and lashed out with another devastating punch. The impact sent out a torrent of wind, scattering the dust surrounding him. But he was not alone where he stood.

Instead, his devastating fist was stopped mid punch, and was clenched in a hand of pure, dazzling diamond.