Chapter 57: Chapter 55: Achieving The Impossible.
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(General P.O.V)
"Well color me surprised... little man actually did it."
Hercules said while smiling widely, hands crossed over his huge chest.
"Was there any doubt? He's our chosen champion. Inexperienced as he is...he has good battle instincts."
Solomon offered.
"Mmh. You're right. But..."
Hercules muttered, looking at the awning darkness of the pit before them, his long hair shielding his face.
"I can't accept it. My pride as a warrior..."
The King of Israel turned to look at his companion who was behaving strangely. His entire body trembling unusually.
"Are...you alright Hercules?"
"No."
The Demigod replied.
"He won the fight yes..."
He continued, looking up to reveal a toothy snarly.
His earlier elation seemed to have been replaced with a furious expression.
"But what in Hades was that?!! He used my Legacy in such...such...such..."
Solomon blinked.
"A smart way? To defend himself against an opponent not only magnitudes stronger than him, but one who would have gone on to devour the boy's soul, not only killing him but gaining all our power in the process?"
The king questioned, staring at the Demigod as if he was stupid.
"Your words are full of reason, King of mages."
Hercules responded.
"But I still can't stand it!!! He's a man! A man should fight with the power of his fists! Not rely on deception!"
He concluded with burning passion.
"I am genuinely out of words."
Solomon shook his head at his stubborn companion, turning his gaze down onto the pit.
The dust and smoke was just now settling after the epic throwdown.
"Still, you cannot deny it was effective Hercules."
Hercules opened his mouth to debunk the statement but then closed it abruptly, an inquisitive look flashing across his face.
"Yes...I have never thought of leveraging my strength like that before. I didn't even think it was possible."
Solomon shook his head.
"He wasn't using your legacy. At least not alone. There was something else there, making the Ice much stronger."
The mage king raised a single finger.
"Divinity."
Hercules turned to stare at him, stunned.
"That's impossible, he might have a divine soul but my Divine energy would have crushed his consciousness to nothing. It's already overloaded from the connection he has with Neptune's-"
The Demigod trailed off, as if realizing something.
"Unless it wasn't my divinity in the first place."
He questioned.
"No, the Legacy was yours. The essence of your Domain as well but...I don't know."
Solomon said with a shake of his head.
Hercules turned to look at him in naked shock.
"You... don't know? How?! You practically know everything!"
Solomon sighed.
"This is a different universe...with it's own laws. It would be foolish to say I know more than I don't."
"I see."
Hercules responded, a rare serious expression on his face.
Out of nowhere, his chest started rumbling with laughter.
His face split into a bloodthirsty smile.
"You know what this means, right Solomon?"
The Demigod of Strength punched his fist into his palm.
"The boy, he's going to get more powerful from here on out. And from the rate he's going...it won't be long before I can fight him. Truly fight him."
Solomon slapped the back of the Demigod's head.
"Idiot. It will at least take him 400 more years to get to your level."
The Mage king said, exasperated.
"As he is right now you will ruin everything due to your battle lust."
"You sure it will take that long? We just saw what he did."
Hercules replied in a contemplative tone.
"Lady Gaea and the Sorcerer are back. We are no longer needed here."
Instead of answering the question, Solomon let his words hang in the air before his emanation promptly disappeared.
"You can't deny the truth..."
Hercules said, staring at his fellow Legacy's previous position.
(Billy's P.O.V)
~~~~~~~
(Mission Complete.)
(Stall for time until help arrives.)
(Reward: Removal of one Weakness from yourself.)
~~~~~~~
The text box confirmed the good news.
I...won?
Of course I won. What was I expecting?
Oh look at that, I'm apparently being snide to myself.
I extracted the Ice Unit off the wall. The steam hanging in the air, flowed around it, fixing the cracks and filling up the lost limbs.
Then I looked up at the black chain hanging before me, going up to the mouth of the pit.
Had I a real body, I wouldn't have been able to stop the smile of triumph that would have appeared on my face.
I beat Mephisto on my own, got the reward from the system and now my soul would finally be in my possession.
Today...was a good day.
The ice unit's fingers turned into claws that I stabbed into the wall. Using them, I started climbing up while following the chain.
All the while my thoughts were on what weakness I could remove from myself.
Maybe Fatigue? Therefore giving myself endless stamina? No, Atlas' Legacy would solve that soon.
Whatever I decided on, needed to be useful not only in the short term but the long run as well.
(General P.O.V)
Ultron observed from his remote command center on the Stark Satellite.
The first wave of Vibranium Sentinels he had unleashed upon Franklin Richards, were obliterated in a dazzling display of reality-warping power.
Granted, those Sentinels were not the most powerful.
They were only useful for one thing; a calculated risk, gathering valuable data on Franklin's capabilities, and it had paid off.
"Sentinel Wave 1: Ineffective," Ultron's mechanical voice intoned dispassionately.
The A.I analyzed the data pouring in from the battlefield above the ruins of the Baxter building.
Franklin Richards was a formidable adversary, yes. But, he also presented a one in a lifetime chance.
Already, Ultron's supreme intelligence was coming up with ways to leverage this.
And luckily with the information collected, Ultron wasted no time in deploying the second wave of Sentinels, now armed with an upgraded arsenal.
These weapons were designed to unleash devastating energy blasts capable of rendering a planet inhabitable forever.
They were specifically calibrated to inflict maximum damage on biological forms, targeting not just Franklin but anything living in proximity.
These Sentinel's arrival was marked by an ominous hum in the air.
Franklin looked up towards the sky, once again spotting hundreds of more Sentinels right after he had waved his hand and torn apart the first wave.
These Sentinels however were a bit different. Not much stronger though.
"It doesn't matter how many you send at me."
Franklin spoke into the air, eyes glowing white.
He stretched out a hand.
"I'll take you all down."
He said, determined.
"Target detected. Deploying Defensive Energy Barriers."
The Sentinels intoned, pausing in the air a distance away from Franklin.
They combined their energy and created one huge barrier before them.
A wave of orange flames much akin to Uncle Johnny's, only hotter, left Franklin's palms.
The fire drowned the Sentinels in a wave of inferno, making the gloomy sky glow a dark red.
The smoke died down.
"Energy Field Defense capabilities...ineffective."
A mechanical voice reached his ears.
The Sentinels revealed were half melted clumps of metal that glowed blue and purple.
"Mmph. I'm surprised your mechanical forms survived that. Those flames were as hot as a supernova."
Franklin intoned, unleashing another wave of flames that finished destroying the second wave.
Then the Fourth wave hit.
And the fifth.
And the Sixth.
The onslaught was relentless, and despite Franklin's incredible powers, Ultron was learning how to effectively counter him.
And so, on the Tenth wave, after the Sentinels were beaten back once more, their remains flowed into each other.
Ultron had managed to create Vibranium nanites.
The result was a new Sentinel. It had a rounder Torso and spindly limbs. This one was clear not designed to fight, but to inflict as much damage as possible.
And Franklin immediately understood that. Without wasting a second he flew in to-
In a blinding flash, the Sentinel exploded, producing a wave of powerful destruction stronger than all the nuclear missiles Ultron had deployed against the world.
Fortunately the explosion only targeted Biological components.
Unfortunately, that meant whatever life remained on Earth would be snuffed out entirely.
Franklin reached out with his powers and absorbed the explosion into himself entirely.
The energy was too much to keep up with, and it reduced his body to ash, his molecules scattered across the air.
Nothing remained.
But Franklin was not so easily defeated.
With his reality-warping abilities, he reassembled himself in the same place as before, a testament to his resilience.
"Found you."
The Son of Reed Richards said with a smile.
He had finally managed to figure out the enemy's hiding place.
The zone around him vibrated as he shot up towards the sky, pushing away the dark and gloomy clumps of clouds as he headed to outerspace.
As Ultron prepared to launch the eighth wave of Sentinels, he sensed a sudden disturbance in his immediate vicinity.
Before he could react, Franklin Richards burst through the Stark Satellite Ultron was using as his base of operations.
The Satellite groaned, explosions ringing out from the destroyed parts.
Franklin's intent was clear once he came out on the other side of the Satellite.
Take down his opponent with extreme prejudice.
"Stark industries huh? The enemy must be hiding inside."
He mused to himself, using his abilities to scan the Satellite.
Nothing.
Something was actively blocking his sensing capabilities. Not impossible but very unlikely.
Huw curious.
He readied himself to attack once again.
But before he could make a move, something strange occurred.
A massive explosion of purple and green energy erupted from one side of the Satellite, illuminating the darkness of space.
"Asset Omega Released."
Ultron declared, his mechanical mind processing the situation.
There was no time to gather more Intel, Franklin Richards was too dangerous.
Ultron had to respond with everything if he wanted to see the culmination of his grand mission.
And so Asset Omega was released.
Franklin flew towards the part of the Satellite Station that had blown up.
In the remains of the station drifting out into space...was something out of place.
A humanoid green giant form.
One that Franklin recognized almost immediately.
Hulk.
Only, he was different. For starters the Hulk had on a mechanical visor with flashing LED's across his head.
And his green body seemed to pulse with a purple energy that looked similar to the metal used to create the Sentinels.
Vibranium.
"Banner, what have they done to you?" Franklin asked, genuine concern in his voice, flying closer to one of Uncle Ben's best friends.
(A few minutes later)
From the ground...
One could see a bright flash of purple and green appear briefly in the sky.
Following the flash was a shockwave that produced cosmic winds that bartered the already devastated planet's atmosphere.
Inside the Stark Satellite, Ultron's voice spoke up once more,
"Asset Obtained. Beyond Omega level."
Somehow, someway, the Impossible had happened.
Ultron had managed to capture a Reality Warper.
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