章 203: 199 For Impact
Oakland, California, February 28th, 19:13.
Hovering under the night sky and above one of a series of large, recently created platforms in the mountain range East of Oakland, a gathering of Heroes can be seen finishing their preparations.
Every civilian within a hundred kilometre diameter has already been either evacuated, or directed to the Endbringer shelters. Most notably Bastard Son, who's hidden himself away in a private bunker.
The battleground to be has already been set. Their location is mostly mountains for miles in each direction, but surrounded by city streets. Several Tinkers have built up a pair of barriers, one at the edge of Oakland, hoping to protect it from collateral, the other in front of the main platform.
Alexandria doesn't think they'll hold.
Floating in the air at the front of the gathered Heroes, she squints into the distance, noticing a small purple dot, steadily growing larger.
"She's almost here." Her words were softly spoken, but those around her, the rest of the Triumvirate, and a local Hero, Poe, hear her just fine.
"One minute twenty seconds at her current pace," Dragon's voice pipes up from her armband, and Alexandria gives Legend a mute nod, who sombrely turns around, floating back to the crowd of Capes.
"Alright folks! Time's up! You all know your roles so there's no point in repeating them, but I will repeat this one thing, just to really ensure that you all understand. Do. Not. Get within ten feet of her. You've all no doubt heard the disasters that followed every time we fought the Faerie Queen. Do not the mistake of underestimating her because she is simply one parahuman. She killed The Nine. Remember that."
Some of them gulp nervously, some simply nod their heads in understanding, and some scoff, not feeling that one cape warrants this much precaution, despite her numerous feats of strength.
Of course, people thought that about Glaistig Uaine too. Then she killed every cape that went after her by the dozen, only being Birdcaged because she surrendered.
His message given, Legend returns to the others, the four of them sharing a nod and flying up, stopping just short of the rapidly growing barrier, dozens of Heroes adding their own powers to it, making it strong enough to tank the assault of an Endbringer, if only for a moment, and wide enough to cover the entire, miles long, side of the natural barrier between her and Oakland.
Turning to Poe beside him, Legend takes a moment to lay a hand on the man's shoulder, getting his attention, even as the horizon starts to become dyed violet.
"Are you ready for this?" He asks, not questioning his ability, but his mind. It's no secret what happened to the other Heroes in Oakland, and Legend doesn't want him to make a fatal mistake due to his grief.
"This city is all I have left, Legend. It doesn't matter if I'm ready. I'm not going to lose this too."
Shaking his head, Legend doesn't respond. Not because he doesn't want to, but because there is no more time left.
In the dark of the night, the violet comet speeding towards them seems all the more noticeable, burning up the sky and tinting the world with the same hue.
Seeing the rapidly approaching ball of energy, the Heroes below all feel a cold sweat, an instinctive feeling of dread.
Between one moment and the next, the glowing comet crosses over the city before them and impacts the glowing barrier.
Boooooooom!!!!
The violet energy, once condensed around her body, explodes over the barrier like a tidal wave, a shockwave spreading outwards that uproots the trees below her and shatters glass for miles behind her, setting off thousands of car alarms.
Crack!
The gathered Heroes flinch at the resounding crack, but the barrier holds firm, no matter how much of that deep violet energy washes over it, flicking at the edges like a liquid flame.
With the four standing vanguard, they all look forward, floating right before the spot of impact, where the cracks are slowly fixing themselves.
Slowly, too slowly, a figure starts to become visible through the fading curtain of violet as the Monster leans forward.
A face, or a mockery of one, leers forward. Two eyes, larger than any natural eye and glowing a baleful red sit at the top of the face. Six more eyes, smaller but just as angry, form a line below each main eye, like tear tracks. And lastly, a smile, if it can be called as such.
Black teeth grind fruitlessly against each other in a smile so wide that it reaches her temples.
It is not a happy smile.
The face of a Monster before them hisses out a breath through clenched teeth, eyes dancing across the four of them as an almost physical weight presses down on them.
The sheer bloodlust, the desire- No, the need, to rip and tear and kill. It makes the Heroes' blood boil. Adrenaline floods their veins as their flight or fight instincts kick in, their bodies screaming at them to fight.
"Heh."
All at once, they all recoil as the Monster's mad chuckle brushes past their ears.
Pulling back, the Monster primes her arm to punch the barrier.
"Hehehe."
With a speed that is barely perceptible, her arm blurs forward, clawed fingers extended for a spear strike.
The world seems to slow down as her claws inch closer to the barrier, being sustained by dozens of separate capes, and passes through without resistance.
The barrier shatters around her hand, the hand-sized hole growing as it's stability fades.
"Hehehehahaha."
The four Heroes split, making some distance as the Monster tears a hole through the barrier large enough to squeeze through. Only to be impacted by dozens of ranged attacks that were charging and waiting for a clean shot.
Booooom!!
The explosion blows away most of the violet energy that was left, allowing them to see the Monster's full body, fifteen feet tall, with each wing just as large as her body and numerous tendrils flailing from her bulging muscles as she is flung away.
Too late, they notice the pair of blood tendrils attached to the newly made hole, and, like a slingshot, she reignites with deep violet energy, sparking from her whole body, and launches herself forward, leaving a sparking trail behind her as she crosses hundreds of metres in less than a second, moving too fast for even The Triumvirate to react in time as she blasts past them.
"HahahahaHAHAHAHA!!!"
With wide eyes, they spin around to the madly laughing woman, watching with horror as she impacts right in the centre of the centre platform in a crouch, her legs bent and arms touching the ground.
The gathered Heroes all turn to face her, and she tilts her head slightly, letting out a high, childish giggle that has their hairs standing on end.
"WhY aReN't YoU lAuGiNg?"
In an instant, a hundred spikes of blood extend out of her body in a ring, moving so fast that you could blink and miss it.
Dozens of Heroes die before they can even understand what is happening, spikes of blood rammed through their chests and skulls, but some do manage to survive it.
Twenty feet away, Chevalier, a Hero dressed in silver and gold armour, raises his sword from where he used it to block her attack to his side, swinging the cannonblade horizontally as if it weighed as much as a feather despite it's size.
However, right as the blade is about to miss, due to him being far too far away, it suddenly extends, while also increasing in density so much that when the hit lands, Lusia's body is flung away, the corpses attached to her tendrils being dragged along with her as she is sent flying through the air straight towards another Hero, Myrddin, who dresses like a fantasy wizard.
She reorients herself mid-flight, opening her maw wide, clearly intending to bite his head off, but he remains unmoved as he draws a simple rune in the air with his staff that, when completed, sends a concentrated blast of concussive force forwards.
The attack is enough to almost slow her down to a stop, but that is enough that he can swing a hand fearlessly forward right into her face. Except, instead of the expected outcome of Lusia biting his hand off, instead she simply disappears in a clap of thunder and a cloud of mist.
Staggering, Myrddin falls to one knee, planting his staff against the ground to hold himself up right as the Triumvirate arrive, Chevalier following shortly.
"How long." Alexandria demands, making Myrddin shake his head lightly in response.
"Two minutes, maybe less." He answers, sweat forming on his brow.
"She's stronger that we were expecting." Legend's words get a round of agreement from his fellow Heroes, and he looks mournfully at the blood splattered across the platform, cursing the loss of life.
"We need a change of plans, then."
Those present turn to the approaching voice to see the leader of The Guild, Narwhal, a seven foot tall woman, with extremely long and glossy, pale-purple hair with a three foot long horn formed from the violet-blue barriers her power produces, much the same as her costume, consisting of fine crystalline scales, each no larger than a fingernail and shining like rainbows when caught under the light.
With her arrival, come two more Heroes, Rime, a tanned woman with black hair, wearing a blue, skin-tight costume with a trimmed fur collar, and Exalt, a tall man completely covered in a white costume, with gold accents lining it, including golden greaves and gauntlets, with a helmet fashioned to show a golden starburst coming from his eyes and mouth.
"If you have an idea, share it." Alexandria states, her mouth set into a firm frown.
"We should stop treating her like an Endbringer, for one."
"She just punched through a barrier that would at least hold out against one or two of Behemoth's blows, Narwhal." Exalt returns with a frown as he, too glances about the blood coating the ground.
"That's not what I meant," Narwhal says with a shake of her head, "Endbringer tactics only work because Endbringers always show up with a target, and retreat if they sustain too much damage. Even if we ignore her insane regenerative abilities, do you really think that she's just going to give up, no matter how hard we push her? She's not an Endbringer, no matter how powerful she is. If we keep to the plan, she's just going to ignore our heavy hitters and kill everyone else, if only to spite us for getting in her way."
"Then what do you suggest?" Rime asks, her naturally frosty voice seeming even colder than usual.
"Simple. Send everyone else away. Anyone who isn't a high level combatant will just die, there's no point in wasting their lives. The nine of us here should be able to handle her until Eidolon over there can get a power that can actually deal with her."
Sharing glances with each other, it becomes clear that no one has any better ideas, causing Legend to let out a sigh. "Okay then, I guess that's the new plan. Exalt, start charging up," nodding his head, Exalt takes to the air and holds his arms out wide, turning himself into a vacuum and sucking the air for tens of miles into himself, "Dragon, get everyone out of here, they can split up between the shelters in case of collateral."
Legend's armband beeps out a confirmation, and the Heroes around them swiftly start dispersing.
"How much longer can you hold her Myrddin?" Eidolon speaks up, bringing attention to the kneeling wizard as he sweats buckets.
"H-half," he lets out a huff of exertion, "minute."
"Eidolon, how're the powers coming along?" Alexandria's voice makes the man frown slightly.
"Nothing guaranteed," he grunts out, finally acknowledging that the woman is certainly no longer a simple opponent.
"Let us know the moment you get something, we'll get you a shot."
They don't need to discuss strategy. They've worked together enough times, know each other well enough that they can fight side by side in almost perfect sync.
At that moment, they notice one of Dragon's Endbringer suits finally arriving, coming to a stop besides Narwhal and arming all of it's weapons, aimed down at Myrddin.
"R-ready?" Myrddin gasps out, struggling to rise to his feet, drawing a sigil in the air right in front of himself.
Thunder cracks, space tears open, and all of a sudden...
There is all the blood in the world.
=================
A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!
Auuugh fucking fuck, how the fuck do I even write this shit!!! Godfucking damn I hate myself.
Fights with more than 2 people are so fucking annoying. The original plan for this was that she'd just hop over, fuck up bastard son and it would end with her standing on a mountain of corpses in the rain, with the Triumvirate only then appearing surrounding her. It was real cinematic in my head.
But it'd be retarded for them to not see her coming, and even more retarded to not prepare for it, so fuck that I guess.
At least I changed it from a 1 v 100+ down to just a 1v10 (9 before dragon showed up at the end)
On the bright side, I'll be able to show off Poe's power now, so there's that at least....
:'(
Also, I'll admit to stalling a little bit so I can have the next chap be 200 ;)
Edit: I'm retarded. I didn't have to stall at all, the next chap ended up being like 4 chapters long because I still wanted it all to be chap 200 lmao
Edit: Also, another early chap cuz I was once again locked in a like 4-5 hour conversation and if I don't post it now I will wake up like 5 hours late to my uploads
(3+)Advanced chapters with the links below!
pat/reon.com/user?u=41732867 (get rid of the first slash or check the description)
Also, join the discord with this invite code! Pj3Dttwses
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