Underneath the purple, dusk sky, Sebastian and the third iteration of Crowe's engineered monster, the same one that he had fought on a Norwegian fishing village only days prior, face off for the second time. A rematch between two void-powered monsters.
"H-hey, are we really just going to stand here and watch that guy?" one of the armed personnel stationed at the Ice Sheet facility asks the person beside him.
"I don't know, but we did get direct orders as well telling us to steer clear."
"I know, but it's just, it's kinda hard to believe, you know? How much faith do they have in this guy"
"Hey," Sebastian calls out to the hulking, black monster in front of him.
"You got bigger. Been working out?"
In their previous encounter, the two were roughly around the same height, the monster only having two or three inches on him. But now, the artificial monster is much taller. So much so that he needs to look up just to look at its head and the ominous, gaping hole making up its face. The monster is now probably a foot taller than him.
Not just its height, but its entire body seemed bigger, too. Its torso is now wider and thicker, as well as its limbs and arms.
The monster obviously underwent an upgrade in its appearance. But what Sebastian is waiting to see is if it learned new tricks.
Both of them are still standing still. Seemingly waiting for the other one to make the first move.
Void energy starts materializing in both the monster's hands, eventually forming a sharp, void blade. As soon as it fully materialized, the monster unleashed a quick pincer attack.
SHHOOM
He appears right behind the monster, up in the air, right hand open and attempting a point-blank, void explosion right at the back of its head, the same attack that demolished its entire right limb in their previous encounter. Only now, both of them had levelled up, the monster looking stronger than before and him having refined the technique.
His open palm starts emanating black mist which gradually got stronger, but only a couple of inches right before he made contact with the monster's flesh, void energy starts forming in the part that he was trying to target, eventually blocking his surprise attack.
BOOM
An explosion ensues.
SHHOOM
He warps a couple of meters in front of the monster, sustaining no damage whatsoever this time unlike the previous, and trying to recall and analyze what just happened.
His void explosion made contact with and hit something, but it wasn't not the monster's flesh. The smoke clears revealing the unscathed monster, walking slowly towards him.
"You can use a barrier now?" he smiles. The monster definitely upgraded. This time, having some sort of automatic defense system in the form of a mass of void energy protecting its flesh and instantly forming right before impact.
The monster rushes at him with incredible speed, both hands extended outwards and aiming for his head which he was able to avoid without needing to teleport away.
"I couldn't see if I was able to destroy the improvised shield," he thought to himself.
"Ah. Doesn't matter."
He kicks the monster on its side but he's blocked again by a quick-forming, small, void energy shield that only forms where a strike will land.
He uses it as a jumping pad and jumps in the air while grabbing both swords on his back.
The monster follows his movements but as soon as it turns to him, he teleports right underneath it.
FWOOM
He charges up both swords. By the time the monster notices that's he's squatting down right beneath it and winding up an attack, he has already unleashed it.
A void-empowered cross slash directed at the monster's head is blocked again by its automatically-forming mass of protective void energy. But this time, it doesn't hold off the attack perfectly as it shatters and disperses, a small shockwave was able to pass through.
The monster notices this quickly and leans back to avoid the void slash shockwave.
Noticing that the monster was in a bit of an awkward position, Sebastian warps in the air, right on top of it and in front of its falling body to apply more pressure to it, feinting a downward stab with both swords.
The holes on its face start emanating a black light and shortly after, unleashed a void laser beam.
SHHOOM
He warps at its right flank, surprised at the new attack but not so much that he would take off the pressure he was currently applying to the monster.
He attempts to slash its side with his right blade but it is blocked again.
"Tsk."
Even so, he was still able to shatter the shield with a single-second delayed void slash, but as soon as it shattered, he notices the same beam-emitting hole on its face appearing on the part that was blocked.
SHHOOM
Another laser beam. This time, coming from an incredibly unexpected position. He was able to get away in time and the beam hits nothing but air.
He watches as the cavity it had just opened for shooting off the beam close off, slightly impressed at how many tricks the monster has learned. And despite his utter dislike for its creator, respect for him as well for being able to create such an abomination.
"Second unit is on their way," he hears Benedict's voice.
"How many times do I have to tell you," he recharges the black flames on his right blade which was depleted with his previous, improvised attack.
To some degree, he was able to perform an energy projection attack with the recent void slash he executed, albeit it was slow and had a short range, only landing because it was point blank. Additionally, it was more just him overloading his sword with void energy. It practically had the same principle as his palm explosion. Even so, it was a start and he only now realized that he really should start with easier techniques, and this gave him an idea on how.
He rushes at the monster, both swords engulfed in large, black flames.
"…I don't need a second fucking unit."
Sebastian goes on a frenzy on the eldritch humanoid. Surprisingly, it is able to keep up with Sebastian's lightning-quick flurry of slashes fairly well, being able to deflect everything. It not only improved its set of gimmicks, it had a boost in its natural combat ability and instincts as well.
The monster wasn't about to just stay on the defensive. A beam orifice appears on its abdomen, lighting up.
SHHOOM
He appears behind its back again but another cavity opens up, and immediately firing. It was the same beam that it charged up on its abdomen but it fired off from a different opening.
BOOM
The beam makes contact and Sebastian is nowhere in sight, presumably still inside the cloud of smoke.
Everyone who was witnessing the fight are holding their breaths, from the Ice Sheet personnel to Benedict and the rest of the mission control floor.
Sebastian shrugs off the cloud of smoke with his two swords, depleted of void energy. He had blocked the beam by forming an extra thick coating in his blades and although it worked, he had to use up a lot of void energy for it.
It was not a good gamble in retrospect as he could have just warped away and not use up so much of his resource. The only silver lining is that he discovered that he is capable of forming a void barrier as well, but at the cost of a massive loss in void energy.
The move is not cost-effective and unless he discovered a way to automate its activation like the monster, it wouldn't be practical. He decides to scrap the move then and there.
FWOOM
He charges up his swords again, the biggest flames he had ever coated it, jumps in the air and unleashes a massive slash at the monster which it instinctively avoids instead of blocking. A smart move.
The void slash hits the thick mass of ice serving as the entire continent's ground. A massive cloud of snow engulfs the two fighters.
Sebastian disperses part of the cloud with a swing of his sword.
"Couldn't you have just teleported away, you showoff," Benedict criticizes his makeshift barrier stunt.
"Yeah, well, I wanted to test something out," he answers.
"Second unit might not make it in time, ETA is four hours in the least."
"Send them fucking back, I don't need any second unit AND I'm tired of having this conversation."
Only its large silhouette is seen, but the monster appears right behind him, attempting to impale his head with its void-covered, left arm.
With his equally void-engulfed left sword, he catches and deflects the monster's blade and pushes it down. He turns around and with his other sword, he swings and unleashes a void slash followed by a small shockwave directed at its head.
BOOM
Another explosion. The void slash connected. But the question is, to where.
SHHOOM
Sebastian teleports away from the cloud of smoke, rotating his neck and shoulders.
The cloud disperses, revealing a horizontal slash wound right between its face hole, small amount of residual void energy lingering on the cut.
The point-blank shockwave pierces through its barrier. Crowe's monster finally sustained damage.
"You're slipping a little, big guy."
The cloaked Crowe, watching from the distance, smiles underneath his mask.