Capítulo 223: Beatdown #223
"And I thought Gotham looked like shit... damn," I muttered to no one in particular as I hovered over the ruined landscape of Alegab's western side, seeing nothing but demolished buildings and undead creatures.
The place looked more like a battlefield from the middle ages than a city, and the powerful beings punching the shit out of each other in the sky weren't doing the place any favors, toppling even the barely standing ruins.
Well, I said they were punching the shit out of each other, but it was mostly Superman thrashing the winged creature, though the latter took the beatings like a champ.
"And what do we have here...?" I said as I turned away from Superman and the strange creature he was fighting and looked at an enormous bone fire full of corpses.
Activating my sensory abilities, I immediately realized it was a magical array designed to gather energy thanks to the knowledge I blundered from Felix Faust's mind.
A closer inspection revealed its purpose, sapping whatever strength the undead creatures had to empower four strange-looking bodies, including one that resembled Superman's winged adversary.
"Looks like you're on your own for now, supes..." I muttered, and I knew the man of steel heard me as he briefly turned to me, which cost him greatly since the creature took advantage of his distraction and sucker-punched him in the face.
I chuckled, shrugging my shoulders as Superman sent me an annoyed glare before turning back to his adversary, and I took that as my cue to fly toward the enormous flaming mound.
'Doesn't look like conventional methods would work...' I mused, frowning as I inspected the area and noticed the frozen undead around the fire and lingering frost on the soil, likely the work of Superman.
The damned thing was a work of art capable of absorbing all forms of energy and channeling it to the four unmoving bodies hidden and protected beneath the earth.
The formation worked by consuming the undead thrown into the pit and sapping the earth's fertility, which seemed to generate the most energy. However, it could also generate power from other sources, like the man of steel's icy breath.
'I need to slow it down before anything else...' I concluded, nodding as I retrieved every Sentry Spider I had from my inventory and had them stop the undead from throwing themselves into the fire.
'The damned thing is even absorbing energy from the shockwaves...' I realized as I noticed a sudden, slight increase in the formation's energy after a thundering clash between Superman and the winged creature.
"That thing is feeding off the shockwaves! We need to take this guy somewhere else!" I exclaimed as I turned to Superman, causing his eyes to widen as the creature immediately charged at me without hesitation.
"Whoops," I muttered as I jumped up to dodge a swing of the creature's scythe and flew into the air. I kept moving upward as I moved my sentient wires, latching on to the best's wings to bring it along for the ride.
I spun in the air as I held on to the creature, only to suddenly stop and let it go, sending it gliding in Superman's direction. "Up!" I exclaimed as I pointed upwards and kept flying toward the clouds.
The man of steel frowned for a brief second before nodding as he sent the creature in my direction with a mighty punch and followed suit at an incredible speed, so much so that he reached me before the best was even halfway through.
"Grayson, right?" Superman asked, crossing his arms and smiling as he levitated next to me, looking down at the winged creature flying towards us. "What are you doing here?" He asked, his tone curious more than anything else.
"That's my name. I'm on vacation," I replied with a shrug, keeping my eye on the winged creature as I retrieved my axe and channeled energy into my muscles, causing my body to glow.
"So much for that now..." I grumbled, sighing as I brought the axe to my side and swung with all my might at the creature's head, breaking its horn as it flew away.
It didn't go far before Superman flew to intercept it, burying his fist into the creature's abdomen and unleashing the full power of his laser vision, which blew a hole in the beast's chest that instantly healed.
I didn't stand still and intercepted the creature halfway through and sent him back towards Superman with an axe kick. "This guy is too resilient..." I muttered as I watched the man of steel rain a barrage of punches at the beast with little effect.
"Can you hold him in place for a second?" I asked as I looked at the man of steel, to which he merely shrugged and held the creature by the scruff and raised him in my direction.
"Worthless mortals, what are you--" And that was all the winged beast could say before I slammed the leviathan's axe into his chest, freezing him instantly.
"That ought to shut him up for a while," I said with a chuckle as I turned to Superman's hand, which was frozen stuck to the winged creature's torso. "Whoops, sorry about that," I said, scratching my head as I tried to make it look like an accident.
In other words, it was not an accident. I did it purposely to test the power and effects of the weapon's ice on someone as powerful as the man of steel.
"Don't worry about it," Superman said as he casually withdrew his hand from the ice and vaporized it with his laser vision. "I understand your eagerness to test your strength," He added, chuckling as he gave me a knowing look while moving his finger somewhat sluggishly.
"Anyway," I said, hurriedly clearing my throat and shamelessly changing the subject. "This guy and his three brothers are sort of like demons..." I said as I pointed at the frozen creature.
"Even if we destroy its body, it would simply find a new host to possess," I went on and began to explain everything I learned from Veronica Cale alongside what I learned about the giant mound of corpses to the man of steel.
"I see," Superman said with a nod, having listened to my explanation with a frown. "Then we can trap this one's soul, but what about the other three?" He asked, his brows furrowing in thought as he rubbed his chin.
"Simple. We let the rest come to us," I replied with a shrug. "The creatures could be possessing anyone, anywhere, right now. We won't be able to find them," I explained as I sighed and shook my head.
"But their new bodies are down there. We only need to wait for the ritual to end, and they'll come out to inhabit their new hosts," I said as I gestured towards the giant unholy bone fire, burning in a sinister green color.
"Once they're here, we'd only need to destroy their new bodies and trap their souls," I concluded with a shrug, feeling confident about my plan, but the man of steel seemed doubtful.
"Wouldn't those creatures be stronger in that case?" Superman asked, his frown growing more pronounced as he alternated his gaze between the frozen besat and fire below. "This one was in a weakened state, but it was a handful to deal with still," He added, shaking his head.
"Not necessarily. The magical formation works by gathering energy and storing it to empower the horsemen's new hosts," I replied, shaking my head as I gestured toward the flaming mound.
"The lodestone crystal acts as a magnet for energy..." I calmly added as I retrieved the crystal from my inventory and showed it to the man of steel, to which he could only nod.
"I should be able to temper with the formation and steal a considerable amount of the energy intended to empower the new host bodies with the crystal," I concluded in an assuring tone as I tossed the lodestone and caught it.
"And how confident are you...?" Superman asked with a sigh of resignation as he turned to me after a moment's pause that he used to evaluate the situation and weigh the options.
"Confident enough," I calmly replied with a smile, to which Superman let out another sigh, but nodded. "Alright. Then I'll need to start working on studying the formation," I added as I turned away from the man of steel and descended toward the flaming mound.
"Oh, and by the way, we have to keep this guy alive. His brothers might realize something is up if we destroy his body or trap his soul..."
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