You immediately launch into the sky, flying up above the cityscape into Aria's atmosphere. Several other military cruisers follow you up and shoot at you until you're so high that you're on the edge of space where the cruisers can't follow you anymore. As you turn around and look down, you can see Voldoor shining a radiant neon purple and blue on the surface of Aria, and you notice that there are tiny explosions where Tom and Roary are fighting towards the upper edge of the city. Pads suddenly talks in your earpiece.
" Guys!? Can you hear me!? "
" Yeah, I can. "
You respond as you continue to float and look down at Voldoor.
" Are you in space!? How the hell are you breathing up there!? "
Pads asks in a flabbergasted tone and you respond to him calmly.
" I don't know… "
" I've been trying to talk to you for a while now, but those fuckers are jamming my signal on the surface! Makes sense that you can hear me in space because my signal's going straight up rather than across the city… What are you doing all the way up there anyways? "
Pads asks curiously. You answer his question as you think about how to stop the fighting down in Voldoor.
" Tom told me to let loose with my powers in order to make them back off, so I flew all the way up here to get a good look at the city. I'm not sure exactly what I should do though… or what I'm really capable of. "
" Well there's no time like the present to find out! Why not cut the head off the snake? If you take out the NaxTech Headquarters, that would scare the whole city straight! Haha! "
Pads suggests to you in a jolly tone.
" I don't want to accidentally hurt you, Tom, Mimi, or Roary if I let loose… "
You say nervously as you continue watching the explosions from space down in Voldoor.
" Not a problem! NaxTech Headquarters is on the opposite side of the city from The Monument in an entire district of the city that they own! Do you see a building that looks like a big ass hexagon from up there? "
You scan the city with your heightened vision and immediately locate the building that Pads is talking about.
" Yeah. It's towards the bottom of the city, right? "
" That's the one! You hit those motherfuckers where it hurts and it'll make'em fuck off in no time! NaxTech is the top dog when it comes to firepower and they're the leading manufacturer of weapons and technology in the city! Voldoor wouldn't even stand a chance in the war against Moriarch if it wasn't for them! If you take out their HQ, it'll definitely send a message that you shouldn't be fucked with! Plus, you'd be doing me a favor by getting justice for Master Ryen! "
Pads says as you stare down at the headquarters from space. You clench your fist, responding to Pads.
" Okay… I'll do it, but I'm gonna try to minimize my impact so I don't hurt anybody on our side. "
" Minimize your impact!? The fuck are you talking about!? You gonna come crashing down into the city or something!? I thought you were gonna handle it down here!! "
Pads exclaims in disbelief before you respond to him with a look of determination on your face.
" You said there's no time like the present to find out what I was capable of… and I should've done this a long time ago. "
You say before flying headfirst back down towards Voldoor at an incredible speed. The atmosphere burns around you as you focus your kinetic energy into your fist, aiming directly at the hexagon shaped building that Pads told you about. As you fly down into the city like a speeding bullet, you think about everything you've seen in Voldoor so far. From the blatant disregard for human life and lack of empathy that Voldoorians have for others, to the careless and selfish pursuit of personal pleasures and predatory behavior, to the fact that the people here breed for fun in order to grow and eat the flesh of human babies for sustenance.
Within a split second, you hit the surface of the planet and strike the ground in the center of the hexagon with your fist, causing a massive explosion around you that instantly vaporizes the NaxTech Headquarters and the earpiece in your ear along with every other building as far as the eye can see. A fiery white explosion swallows everything in your vision as the force of your strike evenly distributes throughout the environment around you, immediately killing hundreds of millions of Voldoorians from the raw force of your impact and killing billions of others as the remaining three quarters of the incredible city that you've grown to despise crumbles into pieces. The surface of Aria rumbles as the tectonic plate underneath your fist shakes violently, and after the quake calms down and the dust slowly settles, you look around to see that the crater you're standing in is thousands of feet deep and so wide that it stretches all the way to the horizon.
As you stand in the center of the massive crater and look around, you immediately observe that the atmosphere is now peaceful, which is a stark contrast to how loud and busy you've known Voldoor to be over the past couple days. What you've just done slowly starts to sink in as you take in the quiet ambience of the crater and it begins to weigh on you. All of the people who lived here… all of the incredible buildings that once pierced the sky where you're now standing… gone in an instant with nothing but an empty crater in its place. To have the city suffer a loss at this scale may have been exactly what Gareth wanted, but it's exactly what this city deserved.
You take a deep breath before you launch back into the atmosphere, flying back to where Tom and Roary are in the remaining quarter of the city that survived the impact. Once you reach The Monument, you float in the air and see that the outside walls are covered in craters and fire. Based on the amount of damage done to it from the fight, you're surprised that it's still standing. You then turn around and scan the surrounding buildings to find Tom and you quickly spot him on a rooftop standing over Roary with Mimi sitting on her legs next to him as he lies down. You immediately descend down and land onto the rooftop before noticing that Roary's lying in a pool of his own blood with ten of Gareth's bodies scattered around him on the rooftop. He's clearly injured with several gunshot wounds from fighting them off and his breathing shudders as he looks up at you, speaking in an awestruck tone as blood drips down his chin from his mouth.
" Abbadon- that- that explosion- was- was that you? "
You nod your head as you look down at Roary with pity and he continues talking to you, barely able to muster his words.
" Holy- shit- I saw it- your- power- "
" Calm down, Roary. Let's take it easy, okay? I can only stop your wounds from bleeding if you relax and stay still. Donny ended the fight. Just hang tight and focus on staying with us… Amy already sent a medical cruiser to come pick you up. "
Tom says as he uses his telekinesis to plug Roary's wounds, preventing him from bleeding out. You look down at Mimi to see that she's crying as she looks at Roary's wounds, so you walk up beside her and gently put your hand on her shoulder as you stand next to her. She looks up at you and her voice trembles as she asks you a question.
" Star Faller… is he gonna be okay? "
You answer her assuredly and honestly.
" We're gonna take care of him the best that we can. "
Mimi then immediately stands up and gives you a hug, burying her face in your stomach. You hold her gently as you look down at her, remaining silent as her tears wet your shirt. A cruiser then descends down onto the rooftop next to you and you watch it carefully, keeping your guard up. The side door then opens to reveal Amy and several medical personnel who, as soon as the cruiser lands, hop out and rush to Roary's aid. They fill his wounds with some sort of biofoam technology before throwing him on a stretcher and taking him back to the cruiser. Amy appears to be holding your folded old outfits in front of her as she steps out and approaches Tom, talking to him in an apologetic tone.
" The owner of The Monument told me that you're not welcome back on the premises… and I thought that you may still want your old outfits, so I brought them for you. "
Tom turns and takes the outfits from her before responding gratefully.
" Thank you, Amy. We'll- "
Tom suddenly stops and looks at her with a concerned glare. Amy looks back at him nervously as she asks him a question.
" Uhm… Tom? Is everything okay? "
" I should be asking you. "
Tom says seriously before his voice takes on an empathetic tone.
" You don't have to go back, Amy. It's not right for them to punish you for taking care of us. You were only doing your job and there was no way you could've anticipated what happened. "
Seeing that Tom just read her mind, Amy looks down in embarrassment.
" I- I have to… The Monument is all I know and they own me. If I try to leave, they'll have me killed… Even if I got away, I wouldn't be able to stay here in the city. I have nowhere else to go… "
Tom steps closer, gently raising her chin and looking deep into her eyes as he responds.
" Then stay with me. I promise that we'll take care of you and you can be free. "
Amy looks back at Tom with infatuation as she puts her hand on his cheek. You can tell that she's fallen for him, but you catch a hint of hesitation because she knows that being with him would be impossible. Based on what you've already relearned about who Tom is, he's not the type to form attachments that could be exploited by others as a weakness. What's important to him is saving The Holy Omniverse, and you're sure that everything he's done for Amy is only because he intends to save her as well.
" Why do you touch my heart? "
Amy asks as she runs her hand down Tom's face and puts it on his chest. Tom responds compassionately and with a gentle smile.
" Because I believe your heart is worth saving. "