As Esdeath was ejected by Artoria's force, it was so powerful that it broke the sound barrier several times, She knew she would suffer great injuries if she crashed into the ground.
Esdeath extended her hand and created three ice pillars as tall as skyscrapers on the ground. The cold spread through the streets of New York and several people were frozen.
From her point of view, if they weren't strong enough to escape, they didn't deserve to live.
The woman with blue hair crashed into the first pillar and broke it, when she hit the second, it cracked but managed to stop her momentum.
Esdeath grabbed her stomach thoughtfully, The pain was insignificant and didn't distract her from the fight. "That blow was supposed to destroy several of my organs, but it's not like that, this body is very resilient... not only that, as ridiculous as it may seem, I don't feel uncomfortable, as if I had always had this body... who created it?"
Esdeath narrowed her eyes and decided to put aside useless thoughts; then she looked at the chaos below. There were sounds of patrols and car crashes as ice pillars emerged from nowhere in the avenues. This world was different from what she knew, but there was something familiar, the screams of people, many screams. It was to be expected, that New York has a high population density.
Some things caught Esdeath's attention, but she didn't have time to pay attention to anything else.
"That woman..." Esdeath sharpened her gaze with murderous intent.
"You don't need to look for me... here I am..." Artoria's voice came from above, and Esdeath turned to see her standing on her ice pillar.
"...!" Esdeath didn't say anything and created an ice spear that shot faster than a bullet, but it didn't hit. 'She disappeared?!' Esdeath thought as her instincts tingled.
Artoria grabbed Esdeath's head and slammed it against the ice pillar, destroying it and crashing into the third pillar. General Esdeath couldn't even react.
"You're fast..." Esdeath said, apparently fine, but her look of displeasure said she wasn't happy with the situation.
Esdeath used one hand to grab Artoria's wrist tightly, she opened her eyes in surprise.
Esdeath didn't let her escape; while smiling, she put her hand on the ice pillar, causing many sharp ice pillars to attack Artoria.
The ice spikes pierced Artoria, or so it seemed to Esdeath, but Artoria destroyed them almost instantly.
"That's how it has to be!" Esdeath smiled wildly and bloodthirsty, repeating the same attack, but this time with larger, more resistant, and more lethal ice spikes. These pillars emerged like porcupine spines, creating a sonic boom.
Artoria stepped back, freeing Esdeath, and began to dodge the attacks without much difficulty.
Artoria observed how Esdeath didn't seem to feel the slightest bit of pity for her surroundings; large amounts of ice fell with each of Esdeath's attacks, which would kill many people because it was impossible to evacuate during this fight.
This may be insensitive, but Artoria didn't blame her. She wasn't a hero, even before becoming a goddess, Artoria had her hands full with her own country, and as a consequence, she stained her homeland with the blood of enemies and allies who followed her into battle.
Artoria looked at the people screaming.
'He'll never admit it... but he doesn't like seeing people die...'
Artoria smiled slightly, almost imperceptibly. She extended her hand and fired beams of concentrated mana at the pieces of ice falling to the ground as a result of her fight with Esdeath.
"You're very kind," Esdeath said, but inside, she was angry that Artoria believed she could do such a thing.
Esdeath was proud, but she knew how to respect the strength of those who were. That's why she was able to accept being beneath an emperor, even kneeling, and show respect to others with enough strength. That's why, even though she was annoyed, she endured it because Artoria had enough strength to do that even while fighting her.
But even with the current difference in power, Esdeath remained certain she would win, a fact noticed by Artoria, who hadn't underestimated Esdeath from the start.
...
Victoria quickly walked through the halls of the Gotham Gazette, which is Gotham City's preferred media outlet and the equivalent of the Daily Planet in Metropolis.
"It's good to see you, Victoria. This place isn't the same without you."
One of Victoria's former colleagues greeted her on the way. Victoria started at the Gotham Gazette but switched to being a TV news reporter a year ago.
"I hope in a good way, Dave..." Victoria replied with a smile, but it quickly faded; she wasn't in a good mood today.
"Hahaha," the man didn't realize Victoria's mood and laughed. "Sure, no one got into as much trouble as you, so it depends on your point of view."
Victoria snapped and continued on her way, holding today's newspaper in her hand.
Upon reaching the office of the editor-in-chief of the Gotham Gazette, she opened the door without even knocking, which even surprised the secretary.
"What does this mean?!" Victoria yelled.
Victoria walked up to a desk where a man in a dark blue suit was talking on the phone.
"I'll call you later, Bruce..." the man hung up the phone calmly and looked at the furious woman. He didn't need to see the newspaper that Victoria threw onto the table to know the source of her anger.
"Aren't you going to answer?" Victoria asked, her brow furrowed.
"Victoria, listen..."
"Don't tell me to listen!" Victoria grabbed the newspaper and pointed to the front page. "The charming supervillain seduces reporter Victoria Vale while showing the new Arkham to the world!"
"And what's the problem?"
Victoria widened her eyes at his indifference. "Huh?! The problem is that it's not true!"
The man stood up and walked to a minibar, pouring two drinks. "Victoria, the whole world saw you repeatedly grabbing Allen Walker's arm, not to mention that every time you got scared, you hid behind him." He laughed as he offered a glass to Vicki. "You looked very cute."
Victoria rejected it unkindly. "Nonsense. That was simply my survival instinct kicking in!"
The man took the drink and left Victoria's on the desk. "Of course, but you can't deny that whether consciously or unconsciously, you considered him a reliable refuge for you."
Victoria blushed a bit but immediately scoffed. "Enough, that doesn't give you the right to ruin my life!"
"Ruin your life?" the man smiled. "Victoria, don't you know?"
"What?"
The man turned his laptop and showed something that left Victoria speechless.
"Is this true?!" Victoria looked shocked at the news in front of her. Her lips parted in shock, unable to help it.
"Yes, and it's only increasing; it's irrational, but the villain has gained massive popularity, to the point of being ridiculous."
"His face?" Victoria asked with a slightly mocking tone.
"Yes, his face, his overall appearance, his way of speaking and behaving, his power—every part of Allen Walker seems to be designed to attract attention. It's absurd that someone like him would suddenly appear out of nowhere."
The man smiled and changed the topic. "Plus, there's something else..."
"- 60%!!!" Victoria exclaimed at the graph showing something impossible.
"They're preliminary statistics and may not say much, but there was a sixty percent decrease in the crime rate after the interview and the tour of Gotham..."
"Is that true?!" Victoria grabbed the drink from the desk and downed it in one go.
The man sighed incredulously. "It seems that criminals fear ending up in Arkham; in fact, they're terrified. For them, going to Arkham is like the Boogeyman for children—well, with what we saw yesterday, I wouldn't be surprised if Allen Walker had the Boogeyman working for him."
Victoria gave an ironic smile. It was surreal that a villain intimidated criminals more than a hero, but thinking about it, it made sense. Heroes have rules, and even the most ruthless ones, like Mr. Batman, who likes to break criminals' legs and arms, have limits. But Allen is a Supervillain; he doesn't care about the lives of criminals—they're just toys for him to torture, apparently. He's a demon, a monster, that's how criminals see him, and they know that if they end up in Arkham... it's the end.
"Victoria, you can take advantage of your good relationship with Allen to find out more about him. Perhaps you can fix him and turn him into an ally of justice."
"Me?!" Victoria blushed a bit at the memory of Allen's face. There were many things she didn't like, but Allen, despite being a lying bastard, didn't entirely displease her. "I don't have such a close relationship with him..."
"You can change that," suggested the editor-in-chief with a mysterious look.
Victoria was offended. "Are you suggesting that I seduce him?!" She almost hit the editor-in-chief for calling her an easy woman, but she restrained herself.
"In the end, it's your decision... I'll just say that Lois Lane won the Pulitzer Prize last year..."
"Ugh... I'm not even a journalist anymore," Victoria wouldn't admit that the Pulitzer was her only regret before leaving the newspaper.
"Fine, go back to the Gotham TV news... it's your decision."
Victoria Vale left the office in silence, gritting her teeth as she walked without greeting anyone else. She wasn't in the mood.
...
Allen left the cinema amidst jealous looks; more than one person noticed the man shamelessly going out with three beautiful women at the same time. This caused a wave of jealousy, but it quickly disappeared when Allen frowned and released a bit of Conqueror's Haki.
Gwen laughed at this, as did Natasha. Mary Jane stuck her tongue out at the jealous men.
===
– I understand those men:v
– Say what you want, but if I were in front of Allen, you'd pee your pants LMFAO
MCdragon – Ugh, he doesn't even let them see her, what a bastard...
PersyJ – You complain too much, friend. People will start to hate you.
MCdragon – Shut up!
===
Allen walked while thinking about where else he should go, or perhaps this time let the girls decide.
Allen felt a bad premonition and then looked up at the sky; something was coming at great speed. That object crashed into a building and went through it; people screamed in panic, and the building seemed like it would collapse.
Allen quickly extended his chains to support the collapsing building due to the impact of the unidentified object.
"Reparo..." Allen muttered quietly, and the building began to restore itself.
Allen narrowed his eyes as he became annoyed; it didn't take long for a flying motorcycle to land on a Lamborghini parked on the street very close to him. That motorcycle was what had gone through the building.
A man cried out in despair at losing his car, but as he was about to confront the culprit, he saw a muscular gray man sitting on the motorcycle.
Not far away was Allen with the girls watching this; Mary Jane recognized him immediately and grimaced. Whether for better or for worse, she had learned a lot from Allen by watching him for so long.
That gray alien was the infamous Lobo, the bounty hunter who dedicated himself to killing throughout the universe.
Allen's opinion of Lobo was neutral; he wasn't his favorite character, nor did he hate him. Sometimes it was fun to watch him, while other times his actions were unpleasant.
Lobo got off his motorcycle, and stepped on the car wreckage; his strength and weight made the car deform even more.
"Haha sorry, don't worry, a little paint will fix it," said Lobo as he handed the bottle of whatever he was drinking to the man, perhaps as a gesture of sincerity.
He was a piece of shit, someone you didn't want to encounter but was fun to watch on screen.
"Smells like wet dog," said Allen disdainfully, not sure what Lobo was doing here, but from experience, he already sensed something.
Upon hearing Allen's comment, Lobo smelled his armpit. shift, it's true, I'm losing my natural smell!"
"Hey, kid, have you seen any demons around here?" Lobo scratched his head and pulled some kind of extraterrestrial insect out of his hair, looked at it for a moment, and ate it.
"No, I have not seen a repulsive creature with a terrifying appearance that is easily identifiable, almost as much as a vulgar mercenary who bathes every two years."
"Oh? You know me? Hahaha!" Lobo laughed but then looked at Allen. "Seriously? Because you smell like a demon... although also like a human... how strange, I have a good nose...?"
"..."
Allen sighed, who hired Lobo to kill him? How did Lobo find him so quickly? Why the hell did he choose his day off to show up?! These are questions that aren't relevant to Allen right now.
"Allen?" Gwen, who was holding Allen's hand, called out to him, fully intending to fight by his side.
"Gwen, retreat..."
Allen didn't want them to get involved with this guy, not because of lack of power but because.
"Oh, what a beautiful girl, I bet she squeezes..."
Allen mercilessly ripped off Lobo's jaw; more than feeling pain, Lobo was surprised. He looked at Allen with a questioning expression as if he didn't care about the large amount of blood he was losing and the grotesqueness of his wound.
Black line tattoos appeared all over Allen's body, as did the six eyes.
"Sorry, felt like if I let you finish that sentence, I'd lose my head..."
Lobo is shameless, but unlike Allen, he has no respect for women. For Allen, having any of his girlfriends near Lobo causes him enormous disgust, he doesn't think he can control himself if he hears Lobo say something or worse yet, try something with them.
"Hahaha, don't worry... I'm impulsive too," replied Lobo with his jaw already healed, which was shocking even to the spectators.
Lobo clenched his fist and punched Allen, but he was enveloped in chains and then disappeared.
"I like chains, but these are too many!" Lobo joked without worrying about his situation.
"Don't worry; they're temporary...!" Allen aún más rápido que Lobo desapareció después de capturar a Lobo con sus cadenas, pero no escapó, apareció en el cielo mientras sujetaba la cadena.
Allen pulled it, dragging Lobo into the sky. Once there, Lobo screamed and freed himself, breaking the chains. Allen's hand appeared in front of him.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Rojo..."
Lobo was dazzled by a flash and then engulfed by an intense red light. Allen gave a glance to his girlfriends, who nodded before slipping away into the crowd.
Allen rose higher into the sky; then he clasped his hands together. "Open box..." Allen muttered, then he stretched out the tips of his fingers, which were surrounded by intense and concentrated fire. "Release..."
The sky flashed with fire for a moment, and Allen disappeared.
====
A/N: This was inevitable, their personalities could only clash :3
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