Bab 224: Scary Women #224
"Well, what do you think?" Superman asked as he watched me step away from the green flames, opening my eyes. "Can you do it?" He asked, frowning as he alternated his gaze between me and the mound.
"I have good news and bad news," I replied as I turned to the man of steel, scratching my head. "The good news is that I can temper with the formation..." I added, raising one finger as I trailed at the end of my sentence.
"The bad news is that the formation needs a ton of energy to activate," I went on, shaking my head as I sighed, to which Superman remained silent, waiting for me to elaborate.
"We'd probably need to toss every single corpse here into the fire, and even then, it might not be enough," I explained, shrugging my shoulders as I pointed to a frozen zombie next to me.
"I'd also have to adjust the formation and force it to devour the soil's fertility, which would doom this entire country," I concluded, my face becoming grimmer and grimmer as I finished my sentence.
"We can't do that," Superman said, shaking his head, to which I merely nodded. I'm no saint, but I wasn't willing to destroy an entire country with millions of people, regardless of the reason.
The man of steel paused as he looked into my eyes, seemingly trying to judge the sincerity of my reaction, but ultimately looked away and sighed after a second.
"Is there no other way?" Superman asked, his expression concerned as he surveyed the wasteland around us, seeing nothing but groaning corpses and the barely standing ruins of what once was a city.
"The formation could convert any type of energy, so it's not like there is no other way," I replied with a shrug. "Maybe if we can get something the size of a skyscraper and throw it into the fire, it would generate enough kinetic energy to trigger the formation..." I added, chuckling as I shook my head.
"But by the time we get something that big, the formation would suck all life from this country and activate on its own," I went on, grimacing as I turned away from the man of steel and towards the sinister mound.
"It's a fucked if you do, fucked if you don't situation," I concluded with a sigh as I shook my head.
"Mind your language, young man," Superman said, raising an eyebrow as he looked at me, but he was smiling for some reason. "Either way, it's a good thing we're not alone then," He went on, his smile growing more pronounced as he turned away from me, staring into the horizon.
I frowned at his words and turned in the same direction, focusing on my senses, to which I picked up the sound of a gigantic object tearing the winds as it flew towards us at an incredible speed.
"What is that...?" I asked as I turned to the man of steel, and he merely shrugged and smiled at me as if telling me to wait and see, and I had no choice but to oblige.
It didn't take me long to figure it out, as I could see the tip of a gigantic iceberg flying in our direction on the horizon. The closer it got, the more apparent its size became until it stopped above our heads, blocking the sun.
"Huh... I guess that could work..." I remarked, my eyes widening as I looked up and saw Wonder Woman holding the iceberg over her shoulders and looking down at us like it weighed nothing.
Superman merely smiled and flew towards Wonder Woman, greeting her and taking the icebergy from her hands like one colossal bag of groceries that would feed an entire country.
"Hello, Grayson," Wonder Woman calmly greeted with a smile as she flew down and stood before me after exchanging a few words with the man of steel. "It's good to see you are doing better," She went as she stared into my eyes, seemingly looking into my soul.
"Thanks... I guess...?" I replied as I scratched my head in confusion but quickly shook my head and changed the subject. "Anyway, we need to act quickly before this thing turns the country into a desolate wasteland," I went on as I turned away from Wonder Woman.
"I understand. I overheard your conversation with Superman," Wonder Woman replied, nodding her head. "But how will you do it? You're not thinking away of throwing your life, are you...?" She asked in a concerned tone, crossing her arms and frowning.
"Hell no," I replied, letting out a snort at the heroine's words, to which Wonder Woman's expression instantly darkened at my less-than-polite, snarky reaction.
"I mean no, ma'am," I said, clearing my throat as I straightened my back unconsciously, to which Wonder Woman's expression relaxed, causing me to sigh in relief.
'Damn, that was scary... it looked like I was going to get pegged there for a second...' I bitterly mused. Strong as I might be, there's just something about Wonder Woman staring me down that put the fear of god in me.
My lack of balls in the face of the amazonian goddess aside, I quickly retrieved the Leviathan Axe, channeling my energy into its blade and releasing an omnidirectional wave of blizzard as a demonstration that quickly solidified into a dome around us.
I wasn't worried about the iceberg's gigantic size since I could do my work from a safe distance. However, the resulting shockwave from throwing an enormous iceberg into an equally sizable fire and the generated steam wouldn't be mild to say the least.
"That is a fine weapon you have..." Wonder Woman said as she inspected the strength of the icy walls around us before turning back to me, specifically the Leviathan Axe.
"In any case, the strength of the walls will suffice, but I will stay with you just in case," The heroine stated in a matter-of-fact tone that brokered no argument, and I had no reason to argue, so I merely shrugged.
"Then there's no reason to dally. Do it, Kal," Wonder Woman said as she walked past me and put herself between the flaming mound and myself, to which I retrieved the crystal and closed my eyes, bracing for impact.
The ground began shaking seconds later as Superman threw the iceberg at the mound of corpses and fire, and it landed with a loud explosion that caused me to wince, cursing my enhanced senses.
Still, I held on to my wits and focused on the task as I activated the lodestone and connected the crystal to the magic formation, waiting for it to fill up and trigger the empowerment ritual.
I felt tempted to channel the power to myself instead of the crystal, but I quickly shook my head and dismissed the idea. Nothing good will come from consuming such foul energy, and I wasn't so desperate to get stronger.
In any case, I waited till I sensed four unique energy signatures fly toward the formation and into the three corpses at its center before I destroyed Azareus' body and changed the power's trajectory, robbing more than half of the fuel meant to empower the four horsmen.
Meanwhile, the shockwave and scorching steam only grew stronger every second, causing the ice dome to melt, but a swing of my axe reinforced the walls and froze it all over.
The heat gradually died down after a few moments, and I dissipated the ice after the ritual ended. I couldn't help but sigh as I looked around, seeing no traces of the city within at least a 20 miles radius.
Even the ruins were gone, replaced by a giant crater full of steam and damp mud, which didn't last as Superman blew the former and froze the latter with a single breath, revealing the four monstrous figures in the center.
Instead of the biblical forms one would imagine based on their names, the four horsemen looked liked undead creatures straight out of a sci-fi horror movie, what with cybernetics and cannons attached to their bodies.
"Finally... I have found a body worthy of carrying my essence," Yurrd the unknown, who had taken the form of a rotted, bipedal hyena with metallic parts covering its body, said as it looked down on its arms.
"The world shall know famine!" The creature bellowed as it raised its arms and let out an excited roar, seemingly intent on unleashing ancient horros upon the earth, which failed miserably as a small cloud of black smoke exited its mouth and instantly dissipated.
"What is this...? What happened to my power...?" Yurrd said as he slowly towards Azareuz, who had maintained his original form but added a few cannons to his shoulders.
The two other horsemen also tried to unleash the powers of their domains over war and pestilence and failed just as miserably as Yurrd, causing them to turn toward Azareuz, seeking an answer.
"It seems that we have been tricked by these cunning mortals," Azareuz calmly said as it turned to us. "Worry not, brothers. We are eternal," It went on, shaking its head.
"Even if they defeat us today, we will try again tomorrow..."
...
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