The dust was settling and Xander, recovering from the attack, could barely make out a silhouette of his assailant. He wiped some blood from his elbow, the one he used to try to absorb some of the shock from the fall. Shaking, he stood up and pulled his hair out of his eyes.
"You really think you're something, eh?" Perses deliriously commented, walking through the rubble. The rocks around him as he stepped, his power too strong for them to withstand. Perses, as Xander knew very well, couldn't control his power. Instead, his emotions held the reins.
"Ngh- What… Do you mean?" Xander asked, grunting.
There was a menacing aura emanating off of Perses as he shuffled toward Xander. It was as if he were a completely different person, overtaken entirely by his power and lust for vengeance over something Xander did not know.
"Your kind did this to me!" Perses breathed in sharply through his teeth.
Xander stared at him, unsure what he meant.
"I have been waiting for this moment, and it's finally here. I think now is my time to make a stand! Spit in the face of the gods! Have a real good look, you cowards!" Perses howled as the destruction surrounding the two grew and grew. A few of the small buildings that were around the both of them crumbled into nothingness, decimated by his overwhelming ability.
Acting purely off of adrenaline, Xander dove away from the constant barrage of attacks that were seemingly invisible.
"What are you on about?" Xander yelled but received nothing but laughs and pained breathing from Perses in return. A cloud of dust filled the air as the bricks crumbled into sand. Xander surrounded himself with gusts of wind to protect himself from the dust and rubble, but could not escape Perses' attacks. There were cuts all over Xander's body, as well as Perses himself. A chunk of the walls next to him came crashing down next to Xander, shattering. The impact trapped his foot under the rubble, immobilizing him. Just then he was whipped across the shoulder with a powerful blow.
"Tell them that I am coming. That I'm going to get my family back. Tell them, Xander. Tell them! I know you know!" Perses dashed towards Xander and threw a punch at him, knocking his foot loose and forcing him to the ground.
Catching himself, Xander got right back up. "What are you talking about?" Xander shouted. "Who are 'they-'" Xander was hit with a right hook across the face, interrupting him. Recovering surprisingly quickly, Xander grabbed and twisted Perses' arm and pushed him face-first into the wall beside him. However, he was knocked back by Perses' rampant power in the process.
Perses was shakily getting up. His power slowed down a little for a brief moment as he stood back up. "Yes, you do! You bear the mark, Xander. You know her. I know you know her"
Xander's eyes shot towards his hand. The mark was glowing. He looked at Perses, who was coming at him with a kick now. "Gods? Mark? What is he talking about?" As if on cue, the mark glowed brighter. He felt a surge of strength and felt himself able to move at a much higher speed, not unlike Kylo's ability.
"What is this?" He asked, suddenly remembering when he tried to copy Kylo's power during class. "Really? This is happening now? Why couldn't this have appeared when I went to punch Kylo? Whatever, I'm not complaining." He thought. "I think I have Kylo's powers now. I must have to wait a while before I can use copied skills." But he had no time to think.
Perses was rushing at him again, destructive power encircling him shredded everything he came near. Dodging with such intense speed, Xander took himself off guard and hit a wall of a nearby building that had not yet fallen.
Perses was astonished and let out a laugh. "You really tried to fool all of us? Saying you didn't copy your friend's power but you really did, saving it for something, huh? The rest of them may have been fooled but I am not so stupid as to trust one of your kind!" He charged at Xander again, shooting invisible tendrils of destruction forth, catching Xander. Perses jumped and landed a kick right on his chest, knocking him to the ground. The breath was knocked straight out of Xander's lungs, making it extremely difficult for him to breathe. Straddling Xander, Perses unleashed a fury of punches only to be blown off of him by a strong wind picking up. Xander stood up slowly, attempting to catch his breath.
"I didn't lie!" He said, wheezing. Xander shot forward, attempting to hit Perses directly. After landing a single punch, Xander grabbed Perses' torn-up shirt and threw him into the rubble. "Can you calm down so we can actually talk?" Xander pleaded.
"I will calm down when every last one of you is dead!" Perses spat as a wave of pure destruction flew toward Xander.
Jumping back to avoid receiving more damage, Xander tried to use the wind as a weapon and defense mechanism. He created very small, yet very fast and powerful gusts of wind that would act like throwing knives. As they shot out and landed on Perses, cuts appeared on his body, yet nothing more. He didn't even seem to notice in all of his anger. Xander groaned and dodged the oncoming attack from Perses, yet still received several deep cuts.
Readying himself with his copied version of Kylo's power, he sprung into action, delivering rapid blows to Perses, who retaliated by screaming and blasting everything around him away with his power. Xander hit a wall, fell, and started to bleed from his head.
"Agh!"
"Look at yourself! You carry that power. That mark. Yet you act like you don't know what I'm talking about? Stop playing dumb!" Perses' attack slowed to a stop, leaving a deafening silence between the two of them, only being broken by pieces of rubble falling down.
Xander tried to stand but fell again. "Shit. I'm so dizzy…" He curled over and coughed up blood.
"Pathetic. How pathetic! A god, spewing blood as a result of attacks bestowed upon me by their own kind" Perses squealed, the moonlight illuminating his outstretched figure.
"I'm not... I'm not a god. Why- why does he keep saying that?" Xander was trying to find stable ground, which was an impossible order because of the current state of what was now unrecognizable as a building. The only hints of the structure that used to stand were the gaping hole in the rest of the building and the mass amounts of rubble on the ground.
Perses marched toward Xander, his destruction reaching its peak.
Xander shakily stood up straight.
"You're really pissing me off. How dare you tell me you don't know what your kind did to me. Did to them." The ground began to fill with holes like it was being drilled into. Then, the ground was upheaved and anything that still remained of the ceiling came crashing down.
Xander tried to dash but couldn't and barely got struck by falling debris. He got knocked over, flaps of his tracksuit stuck underneath. He couldn't get up.
"What a pathetic sight. I can finally begin to live in peace after I avenge my family! You've heard this countless times by now, but I'm starting with you!" Perses was being lost in a mindless ramble.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Perses!" Xander struggled, trying to remove his tracksuit so he could get up. "Why can't I tear my clothes? I feel so weak."
"You're going to pay for what happened to me…" he repeated.
Perses was atop Xander, staring down at him like a demon.
"Any last words before I kill you?"
"..."
"Fine by me. You're lucky I'm as merciful as to grant you last words, anyway." As if he were holding a sword, Perses plunged invisible destruction into Xander's shoulder. "Let's take our time with this one, shall we?"
Xander felt a throbbing pain in his shoulder as a pool of blood began to form underneath him. "It's so warm but so cold. What do I do—" Xander had exhausted himself with a fight more intense than the battles he had been in before. His body simply wasn't used to the new situation.
Perses removed the form-fitted destruction and plunged it into a spot further down his arm.
"Agh-!" Xander screamed, struggling. The wind picked up.
Perses' hair blew in the updraft. "Still trying to fight me? Just give up." He twisted the invisible blade of destruction around and plunged it into his elbow bend. Xander tried to grab onto the invisible destruction but his hand passed through it, getting sliced severely in the process. "What a feeble creature you are." Perses' face was a twisted display.
The breeze that persisted was no longer Xander's. In fact, he had almost completely run out of mana. After exhausting his powers so much, he only had a little bit of gas left in the tank.
Perses' attacks persisted. Xander was in intense pain. Pain which he had never been in before. His arm burned. So much pain. His expression relaxed when Perses removed the destruction and stayed resting when the invisible weapon plunged into his forearm.
He had a flashback of his past.
Xander stood at the edge of the driveway.
"What is this?"
He stood like a corpse, staring out into space. Naomi was roller skating.
"Oh... Yeah. Naomi would skate all the time."
She rolled back and forth down the sidewalk and along the driveway.
"Xander! You should try skating sometime, it's fun!" Naomi did a circle around Xander, returning to the sidewalk.
"Uh…" Xander groaned like a zombie.
"Xander, I don't speak living dead. Wanna try on my skates?" She teased, braking in front of Xander.
Xander felt his right arm fall limp and he felt a cool liquid running down it. He looked at his arm. Nothing.
"Earth to Xander!" She said, waving her arms in front of him.
"Huh?"
"I said 'earth to Xan- woah!" She slipped and began to roll down the driveway.
A car was coming and she was en route to a collision. Naomi noticed and shifted her weight to fall over to stop her momentum. She fell, but she ended up tripping into the road. The car was speeding.
"Hey! Stop!" Naomi shouted, trying to get up but couldn't because of how she scraped her limbs going down.
Xander lunged forward with a quick speed and grabbed Naomi. He laid her down in the grass as the car passed over where she was just a second ago. Xander looked at the car. It unraveled into nothingness as it went beyond the bend. Observing the situation more, Xander noticed everything further away distorted into a void. He looked back up at the top of the driveway. He was still standing there, staring off into space.
"What is this?"
"Thanks, Xander. I love you…" Naomi smiled away at the traumatic event that just unfolded.
"This never happened." Xander questioningly stared down at Naomi but couldn't help but smile. "Why am I seeing this?"
It turns out it wasn't a flashback at all, but something completely different.
"You're amazing. I don't know why people wrong you, Xander."
"What is this?"
"Get out there and fight." Naomi looked at her brother.
"That's right. I'm out there being stabbed." Xander looked at Naomi, then his idle self still standing on the driveway, then back at Naomi once more. "Thank you, Naomi. I'll be back to you soon enough."
Everything except for the Xander standing by faded away. He stood up and walked over to himself. He laid a hand on the other Xander's shoulder and looked him in the eyes. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that this version of Xander was him before learning about magic. Before meeting any of his new friends. Back when he was in his home, with his parents who didn't love him. Back when he was unhappy and emotionless.
"We need to work together. Both you and me." the real Xander spoke to his other half. "I know you like to creep up on me out of nowhere, but we can make a good team. Please, help me."
The Xander before him blinked.
"I know we have some scores to settle with people back home, but we have to help ourselves out of here, first. Please, help me."
Xander nodded at Xander, slowly. They merged together, and his vision restored itself He saw Perses, still standing above him.
"I know I struggle with myself, but there are people I need to be strong for." Xander reminded himself of this fact once again. "How easy is it to get lost in overwhelming feelings and forget about everything else?" Xander shook his head.
He made a fist with the arm Perses was attacking and threw his arm upwards, slicing it on Perses' invisible blade. Behind it, rubble picked up in an air current and sailed for Perses. Mostly pebbles, Perses shut his eyes to prevent them from getting into his eyes. It was merely a distraction.
"Argh- you little-" What he didn't see next was Xander, who weakly wrapped his legs around Perses' and threw him to the ground. Perses hit his head and his sentence got cut off. He fell motionless.
The only sounds that could be heard were Xander's heavy breathing and an occasional cough from Perses, who was still lying on the ground.
"Perses… are you okay?" Xander spoke up with what strength he could muster. "I didn't mean to hurt you like that, but I couldn't let you hurt me either. Now, what were you talking about? Gods? Mark?"
There was no response.
"...Perses?"
Perses' body levitated, gaining distance from Xander, and then a beam of purple light connected the ground and the sky through him. From the sky descended a purple and black silhouette of a woman.
"What the hell?" Xander asked, his body unable to support himself anymore. He couldn't move and was completely drained of his magic. He could only watch what was to happen next.
"You've done well, Perses…" the purple woman said.
"Joules!" Apollo roared as flames enveloped the area around the two.
"My my, always such a fiery-spirited boy," Joules retorted cooly to Apollo's anger, backing up away from each attack so as to not get scorched.
The duo pushed back through the hole that was made when Kylo charged Ken and found themselves in the midst of their battle. The wind was rushing all around the room as Kylo blitzed Ken, standing in the middle holding his own.
"Hey, Ken! I might want a little help with this one, he's a bit feisty."
Suddenly, objects flung themselves toward Apollo, forcing him into a defensive stance, evading each object.
"Telekinesis, huh?" Apollo chuckled as he coated his arms in a flame, shaping his fingers into what looked like claws of powerful flame. He slashed away at the incoming barrage of crates, bricks, and furniture.
"Astute observation! My my, you do have some brains behind all that brawn," Joules poked.
Apollo's flames compressed into a steady flame, making them even stronger.
"You better cut it before you die, Joules!"
"Or whoa- woah!" Joules was swept off his feet. Kylo appeared in front of Joules, as if he were charging at him but stopped his momentum right before the moment of impact. Joules swiped at Kylo but he disappeared just as quickly as he appeared.
Joules turned back to Apollo with a shaking voice. "Oh. My. God. Do I have to fight you, bro? We can talk this out, can't we? I can't win against you if I can't touch you. I think you should put away those flames!" Joules scrambled back to his feet, standing before Apollo and his flaming arms.
Apollo's eyes were ablaze. "You are pathetic. Bullying my sister's friend. Trying to make everything work out in your favor, even if it means stepping on people to get it. People like you really make me angry. You're weak! " Apollo rambled on, embers floating in the air around him.
"Listen-! I know I'm weak. I didn't honestly know Iris was trying to use us for her own gain. Honest!" He pleaded.
"It's been going on for so long that I doubt that. I'm sure that you would've found out something about her from the detention center. You're just pathetic and I'll gladly drag you, unconscious, back to the detention center." Apollo moved one foot forward, his flame descending down his leg.
"I-I-I surrender! I surrender… I surrender!" Joules dropped to his knees.
Apollo's blaze now covered everything up to his neck and was rising still. "Then you'll come quietly, you brat!" His entire body was engulfed in fire, his hair acting like fire itself.
Joules shrieked as he realized that Apollo standing before him was now something else. "I surrender, man! I said I surrender, dude! Let me go!"
Flames seeped through cracks in the ground about his feet as water would. In his maddened frenzy, Apollo roared. Joules crawled back from him just like wounded prey and a predator. Apollo stood motionless.
As it turns out, Apollo was completely overtaken by rage. Similar to Perses, his power has completely overtaken him and he could no longer control it. Simply put, he continued to get angrier and angrier, his power growing more and more out of control.
The flames flickered from red to blue.
"Apollo, what the hell are you doing?" Kylo yelled from across the fiery battlefield. "You're getting me caught up in this!" He tapped away a smoldering piece of his shirt.
Apollo did not let up. He continued to spew flames everywhere, burning everything around him. Even some of the rubble began to catch fire.
"Damn. I can't fight the way I normally do with all of this fire all over the place, I'll only get myself burned. But there's still this guy." Kylo glared at Ken, who was smiling maniacally.
He had stopped tossing things for the most part and watched Apollo. "Interesting."
Kylo slammed to a stop, mouth ajar. "Oh dear lord…" Ken laughed.
"This is definitely strange. I haven't seen anyone get this worked up over something as minor as confronting his friend's bullies before. Honestly, even I didn't get this angry after seeing the expedition team get wiped out," said Ken.
"What did he just say? He wasn't upset about that? What the hell? Earlier in the cafeteria, he seemed infuriated by even remembering it… This is the most I've heard you talk since earlier," Kylo cocked his head. "Regardless, yeah… I don't know what this is, either. I'm going to have to wait for him to burn himself out before I can fight to the best of my ability. Tch." The pair slowly backed up as the heat in the room was rising, backing away from its source. That was until screaming could be heard from deeper into the room.
"God damn it, Joules, get away from him already!" Kylo yelled, leaping toward him. Scouring the bright heat for the source of the voice through a squint, Kylo raced, both to find Joules and so he himself didn't get irreversibly burned.
"Apollo, buddy… we can talk this out, right? We can, can't we?" A raspy, pleading voice squealed. Kylo shot towards the source and scooped Joules up.
Within a second, Joules was on the ground, coughing. His skin was seared and his clothes had holes burned through them. Kylo collapsed, too, slightly torched by the flame, his clothing also in shreds.
However, without giving him a second to breathe, pieces of rubble were thrown at Kylo with intense force. It was Ken.
"Dude, really?" Kylo groaned. He picked up Joules and threw him away from the fire and oncoming attacks. "Go away and stay away. I won't protect you from this crap again." He demanded.
"Ow! Jeez, yeah… yeah all right I will!" Joules struggled, crawling behind a pile of rubble for use as a hiding spot.
"I don't know how he's even talking. This fire is unnaturally hot and he was in it for longer than the few seconds I was…" Kylo shrugged it off. "Just some random miracle."
The onslaught of attacks from Ken continued, forcing Kylo to dodge meticulously. The fire was spreading at an intense rate. There was nowhere for him to run, and doing so would only cause him to get burned even more.
"Why are you doing this?" Kylo screamed, yielding no response from Ken.
Looking around, Kylo decided to use the falling, and somewhat melting, buildings around him as cover, as he ran around toward Ken.
The heat was getting unbearable.
"How is that guy even still alive in there?" Ken asked, intrigued.
"I have no clue but I'm glad he is. Except for the fact that he's still spewing flames everywhere!" Kylo appeared from the back of Ken, landing a solid punch on him. However, using his telekinesis, Ken was able to regroup after the attack and set up a defense of rubble, while also attacking at the same time.
"Ugh! Why do you have to make this so difficult!" Kylo complained again. This time, he used his power to launch himself toward Ken's makeshift defense, landing a solid punch right in the middle which shattered the concrete. "Gah! That hurt like hell!" His knuckles were bleeding and possibly broken.
This attack, however, created a small opening in Ken's defensive barrier, allowing him to go in for a few more strikes. Just a few kicks and Ken was launched across the ovenlike room, slamming into a wall that was getting increasingly closer to Apollo's raging fire.
"Please let that be enough out of you, I really hurt my hand trying to take you down," Kylo whined.
Ken, half-conscious, used telekinesis to pick up large chunks of flaming rubble and fired them at Kylo, which made direct contact with his body and head. The burning bits of concrete and metal sent Kylo falling backward, blazing his skin.
The two of them were down, unable to stand, but both were still conscious. However, Apollo was still very much awake. Despite Joules having been taken away, Apollo was still raging, clearly unable to control himself.
The heat and the flames began to reach their peak intensity. At this point, the buildings around them were full-on melting. The rubble was turning into molten lava. It was at this point that Ken decided to finish off Kylo, by sending these chunks of lava, which were just solid enough to be carried by telekinesis, on top of him.
Before that could happen, Kylo mustered up all of his energy, despite his injuries, and forced himself up and out of Ken's line of sight.
As loud as he usually is, Kylo was very quiet and tried with all of his might to sneak up on Ken for a sneak attack. Surprisingly to him, this worked, and he was able to appear next to Ken without him noticing.
"Like a ninja…" He coughed, alerting Ken to his location. However, Kylo was fast enough to punch him in the jaw and kick him in the ribs. As Ken fell to the ground, he managed to swipe at Kylo's body, scratching him right where he was burned by the scorching rubble.
Kylo screamed in pain. The two began to fight barehanded.
This lasted for a few minutes when finally, after so long, Apollo's flames began to flicker and diminish. Almost instantaneously, the fire surrounding Apollo's now completely charred body disappeared.
The fighting stopped for a moment, and Kylo looked up at Apollo and smiled.
"He's definitely okay. His body must be built for his own power."
Then, the entire area exploded.
Due to the incredible amount of fire being extinguished very quickly, the oxygen surrounding the area that was being absorbed into the fire then rushed into that same area, which was still extremely hot. That oxygen caught fire once again and exploded, destroying whatever was left of the buildings around them.
Both Kylo and Ken were sent flying, hurt very badly by the explosion. Both were not even comparable to the amount of damage Apollo received.
The flames were out, and the fight between each of them ceased. Joules, who had been hiding, somehow managed to escape injury.
The three of them coughed for several minutes.
"Woah!" Joules screamed like he was being pulled somewhere.
"What?" Kylo panicked in between coughs. "What happened? Joules?"
As if the fight had finally ended, they watched as a bright purple light filled the hellscape all around them. While it was impossible to see due to the amount of dust and debris everywhere, they could tell it was something. Something strange.
"Oh Jinx~!" Iris called out to her sister. "Come out, come out, wherever you are! I just wanna have a talk with my sister if that's okay with you! If you make this easy on me, I won't have to cripple your friends. Don't you want to avoid that? I sure do."
Aspen and Jinx were huddled on top of a shelf in an abandoned closet, trying to keep quiet, hiding from the girls outside.
"Y'know, Iris… If I had to guess, they're probably scared we'll kill them ourselves," Shiro added, condescendingly.
"I know… They have no faith in me! I'm only trying to fix what's broken. They're the ones who are making this difficult. It's so foolish, selfish even. I can't accept this." Iris kicked something over, grunting. "If only they had respect for those who fight for what is rightfully theirs."
"Well, they couldn't have gone far. Adrian is watching over the only other route out of here, and they definitely wouldn't have run beyond the treeline. Too many dangerous creatures exist, they wouldn't want to risk it," Shiro assessed confidently.
"I know, I know! It's ingenious. Props to Lazarus for finding this location! Honestly, I couldn't have done it without him."
"Who is that?" Shiro questioned.
"Just an affiliate of mine," Iris replied. "Anyway, why don't you use that power of yours to scout these worms out?"
"Come on, you know it doesn't work that way. My power only lets me see a few seconds of the future. It's like a prerecorded video playing in my mind every time I use it. I can't use it to see forever into the future," Shiro explained.
"That's boring. I wish you could just skip to the future where I get what I want, and skip having to deal with them," Iris made a face as if she were sick, pretending to vomit.
Shiro laughed.
Noises of separate battles sounded through the narrow alleyways and into the building in which Jinx and Aspen were hiding. Apollo's loud, furious voice could be heard from even so far away. For every explosion or yell, Jinx would flinch. She was left, shivering in Aspen's arms.
After several minutes of this, eventually, Iris and Shiro made it to where the other two were hiding.
"Are you brats in here?" Iris snickered.
"Damn it… We have to get out of here, Jinx," Aspen whispered.
Jinx nodded slowly.
As the two stood up, however, the other two caught them immediately. "Ugh, finally! I don't think I could search for you anymore," Iris complained.
"Jinx, let's run again!" Aspen took Jinx's hand and tried to run away.
"I don't know about that," Shiro smirked, standing in front of the only other way to get out of the building. "I saw where you were going to try to escape from, and so I blocked it off before you could even make a move."
Cornered, Aspen and Jinx had to think of something to do.
"Jinx, I will attack with my ice, leaving you an opening to run. I should be able to defend you from them if you make sure to run away and hide as soon as you get a chance," Aspen spoke, uncertain.
"You can't do that! Who knows what they will do to you if you lose!" Jinx said.
"Well, what do you think we should do then? It's the only way you can get out of here safely."
"Why is everyone fighting and possibly getting hurt just to protect me from my own sister? Why can't I protect myself?" Jinx cried.
"Jinx…" Aspen eased her grip on Jinx's hand.
"Oh boo hoo. You're weak, we already know that. That's why we're trying to make you useful for once and return my power back to me. Now stop crying and get over here, brat," Iris spoke coldly.
"Seriously, I don't want to sit here and watch your waterworks. Either give up or at least try to fight back. Either one is more interesting than whatever this is," Shiro rolled her eyes.
Jinx looked up, around the room, and then to Aspen. "I… I have an idea," she sniffled. Aspen leaned in to listen to her whispering.
They both stood up straight, although Jinx was still shaking with fear.
"Oh? Are you actually going to try to fight back? I was just joking. There's no way you think you can actually do anything, right?" Shiro laughed.
"Hah! Oh, this will be fun, won't it, Shiro?" Iris laughed as well.
"Shut up for once, Iris. I'm sick of your voice." Jinx snapped.
"What the hell did you just say to me, you worm?" The smile faded from Iris' face and turned into anger.
"Ready Jinx?" Aspen called, readying her stance.
"Yeah, I guess…"
The two of them took off, Aspen in the lead, with frost falling off of her arms. She was readying for an attack with her ice.
"Shiro! Block them!" Iris called out, although she didn't think she needed to.
"Yeah, yeah… I know!" She responded. "Wait, what are you guys doing?"
Moving quickly, Aspen swapped places with Jinx, and created a massive ice wall, blocking Iris from following.
"Get out of the way!" Jinx yelled at Shiro. Using her power, she cursed Shiro, causing her limbs to go completely numb.
Shiro fell to the ground. "What the hell? What did you do to me? I can't move! Iris!"
"All right, let's go!" Aspen once again took Jinx's hand and started running.
They ran and ran, and ran. They continued to run for several minutes, trying to escape from Iris.
"Wait!" Jinx stopped running, followed by Aspen.
"What's wrong? Did we lose them?"
"No… We already ran by this building. See this?" She pointed to unique damage to one of the buildings.
"So?"
"I think we're caught in one of my sister's illusions."
"What?"
"My, my… You're not a complete idiot after all. You figured it out," the illusion fell, revealing Iris standing in front of the pair, who were backed into a corner.
"Ugh, just leave us alone!" Aspen groaned.
Iris scoffed. "Leave you alone? Hah! You're the ones who are keeping my sister from me!"
"I'd agree with her if I were you! You know, she's trying to help all of us! She's showing me I'm not weak and worthless like everyone else tells me, it's truly spectacular!" Shiro stumbled around the corner, having regained control of her limbs.
Jinx gasped. "How did you-?"
"What? Break that pathetic hex? Come on, that was so weak I didn't even have to try very hard. You don't even know how to use your power effectively. Everyone knows strong curses require physical contact and time. Iris taught me how your power works because she knows how to use it. Just give it back to her!"
Aspen threw an arm aside and pushed Jinx behind her. "What do you know about Jinx? And weakness has nothing to do with it! She may not have the most ideal ability for offensive combat, but is that really all there is to a person? Where do you get off saying all of those things? If I were speaking, I'd want to acknowledge her drive to put forth the most effort out of anyone else. That's what defines a person. Their integrity. That's something all of you lack. If anyone here were practically meaningless, it'd be you guys!" Aspen shouted, tears welling in her eyes. "Do you remember what Xander told you earlier? In the classroom? What he said was true. You're weak. Weak-minded!"
"Don't you dare say that to me! What the hell do you know about me or my friends? You have no clue what we've been through!"
Shiro had a flashback of her past.
"Why were you even born into this family?"
A young Shiro hunkered down beneath her mother's feet, chess pieces strewn across the floor. "P-please Mom, stop! I'll win a game, I promise..."
"You'll win a game? Bah. The Hakagawa bloodline is renowned for its precognitive abilities and yet you still fail. You are a stain. You bring shame to our family. Maybe Thorne has a way of fixing you."
Several years had passed in Shiro's memory.
"That's impressive! Do you mean to tell me you predicted Mr. Evander would spill his water? You really weren't lying when you said you could see the future. Imagine what you could do with that!" Iris giggled, kicking her feet under her desk.
Shiro blushed and twirled her silver bob-cut hair around a finger. "Well… My family calls me a failure. It's not that impressive. Actually, it's not impressive at all." Shiro denied the compliments.
"Why should you care what they think? That's a strong power to have in your arsenal. You're lucky to even have it. Honestly, I'm jealous. I know what weak looks like. I have a pathetic sister who is really weak." Iris responded.
"What makes her weak? Is her ability flawed like mine?" Shiro pondered out loud.
"She is the flaw," Iris spoke matter-of-factly. "You're way better off than she is. You're great, really."
Shiro's flashback ended.
Shiro stood in the room, infuriated. "Let me ask you again, Aspen Armoni. What do you understand about any one of us?" she hissed.
"You're right, I don't understand anything about you. But I don't need to know anything to understand that you all are wicked, malicious, and twisted-"
"Do you ever shut up?" a sinister voice rang as a dagger flew towards Aspen's face. Aspen flinched and closed her eyes. Just as the blade was about to make contact with her forehead, it disappeared, as if it never existed to begin with.
"What-? Ngh!" Iris emerged from being invisible and landed a heavy blow right in Aspen's stomach.
"Maybe if you weren't talking so much, you could've heard me coming!" She kicked Aspen in the thigh, buckling her leg inward.
"Aspen!" Jinx screamed. She flipped a table that was standing next to them toward Iris hunkered behind it.
"Do you really think hiding will save you?" Shiro ran to the table and vaulted over it, her hand sizzling after touching it, backing away. "Gah-! You weak little…"
An eruption of ice emerged from around Aspen, repelling Iris. The ice, just as quickly, turned to powder and revealed Aspen, panting.
"What a desperate attempt at an attack. Honestly, it was kind of cute," Iris giggled, picking up a glass and hurling it to Aspen, who ducked only for it to fade into the fog, just like the knife from earlier. The two girls danced, throwing strikes at each other. Suddenly, Iris had six arms, confusing Aspen, and allowing for her to break through her defenses.
After getting hit a few times, Aspen used her power to force Iris back again. "What are you doing?"
"What? Why would I tell you that now?" Jinx scoffed, charging in for another attack.
"Don't worry about them, now" Shiro glared at Jinx, who was running from the table. "Do you really think your hex magic is going to save you? You're a flaw. Your power is insignificant. Let your sister fix you by merging your soul into hers!"
Jinx shook her head. "I don't know how you have the power to assimilate, but I want no part in it." Images of her childhood popped into her head. "What I do want you to tell me, though, is how Iris changed from the best sister in the world to this?" Jinx backed herself up against the wall and pressed her palm into it.
"I can answer that for you, dear. She was trying to get you to be comfortable around her! She's always hated you, and she just wanted you to get close to her so it would be easier for her to catch you. But, you just can't do anything right, and had to screw all of that up," Shiro snickered.
"Tch-" The wall behind Jinx crumbled, and dust filled the air, lowering visibility significantly. "Success!" Jinx dashed away.
"What did you do?" Shiro groaned. "Ugh! Why are you so damn difficult?" She yelled.
Jinx ran up behind Shiro and tackled her. "Gah!" yelped Shiro. "You brat! Get the hell off of me!"
"I'm glad Iris told you so much about my power. Now, you should know what's about to happen to you," Jinx said.
"What? No… Get off!" She squealed.
Jinx used her power to curse Shiro, once again making it impossible to move. By maintaining physical contact with her for a longer period of time, Jinx was able to use a much more powerful hex on Shiro. "Now stay here like a good girl. We'll be back to take care of you," She said coolly.
"Hey! How dare you do this to me! I will get you! Mark my words!" Shiro screamed as Jinx ran towards Aspen.
As she made it to where the other two were, she heard Iris talking, however, her voice was shaking, as if she were cold.
"Like I said, you're getting desperate" Iris shivered.
"It's working though," Aspen replied with a smirk.
Iris looked over to Jinx, who ran to where Aspen was standing. "How… How are you here? Where is Shiro?"
"She won't be here for a little while," Jinx responded.
Aspen smiled. "Good job, Jinx."
"Thanks."
"Ugh… I should have never trusted her to go after you. I should have just done it myself. I can't trust anyone to complete my job for me but myself," Iris spat.
Aspen readied her stance. "Jinx, we're going to take her down. Are you ready?"
"I guess so…" Jinx was much more nervous facing off against her own sister.
"All right, losers, let's see what you got." Iris threw out her arms and the entire room was filled with fog, which transformed the area into something completely different. Iris appeared as she grew larger and larger until she was a giant compared to her normal self. She laughed like a supervillain.
"What is this?" Aspen asked.
"It's just her power, ignore it. Try to focus on where you think her real body is hiding. She's usually invisible, but you can sometimes see the illusion falter a bit where her real body is moving around." Jinx replied.
"Okay, sounds good- Agh!" Aspen was punched in the stomach and fell to the ground.
"Aspen!" Jinx cried. Panicking, Jinx tried to think of what to do, when the giant Iris threw a punch at her. She screamed and got punched in the stomach just like Aspen did when the giant made contact with her. "Agh!" She coughed but remained standing.
Aspen started to stand up.
"Come on… focus, focus, focus…" Jinx thought to herself as she tried to find Iris' real body. However, Iris was able to hit her a few more times before Jinx could even catch a glimpse of the illusion fading.
"Ugh…" She clutched her stomach. "Aspen, are you okay?"
"Yeah…" Aspen replied. She stood up straight and began conjuring icicles in the air which she sent flying in a bunch of different directions, each of them missing their target as she didn't know where Iris was.
"That's it," She said. "I'm getting tired of this game." Aspen crouched down and pressed her palm against the floor. Frost built up all around her arm as ice covered the floor all around the room they were in.
Iris got stuck in the ice, and couldn't move. This also helped the other two see where she was. "Ugh! Really?" She groaned.
Aspen fired icicles at Iris, finally making contact with her, and giving her a few shallow cuts.
"Ow! How dare you!" Iris snapped. She broke the ice around her feet and ran away, making the others lose track of her. While she was running, she snuck around Jinx and kicked in her knee, forcing her to the ground. While she was down, Iris took this opportunity to stomp on Jinx, over and over again.
"Jinx!" Aspen yelled, attacking with her ice again, forcing Iris to run away, and leaving Jinx beat up on the ground.
This continued for several minutes, as Iris would use her illusions to hide her body and perform sneak attacks on one or the other over and over again. Even if one of them were to notice her real body, it wouldn't be enough as Iris would just attack and then go back to hiding.
"I need to think of something…" Jinx thought. "Or else Aspen will get hurt even more because of me." She tried to focus heavily on her environment, and everything that she could use her hexes on. She closed her eyes and thought for a moment, leaving Aspen to focus on Iris. That was when she noticed it. Iris' illusions were made with mana. For her own power to work, Jinx imbues different objects with her own mana to assign them unique traits with her hexes. This also works with mana itself, to an extent.
"Aspen! I have a plan! You have to keep Iris in one place for a second while I do it. Then, you'll be left to finish the job," said Jinx.
"Okay, I'll trust you on this, Jinx," Aspen responded.
"Oh yeah? What do you think you can do, worm? I'll just knock you out before you can even try. Besides, I'm getting bored of this game anyway," Iris hissed.
"I don't think you'll be able to when you can't even move!" Aspen yelled, as she crouched back to the ground, still partially covered in ice, and proceeded to use the same move as before, only this time, much more powerful. Being careful not to affect Jinx, Aspen covered the entire floor, as well as parts of the walls and surrounding areas with solid ice. It was much stronger than before, and went up to Iris' knees, making it much harder to break.
"Ugh! You brat!" Iris cried.
"Now, Jinx!" Aspen called out.
Jinx closed her eyes once again and felt for the presence of mana. Visualizing the illusion in her head, she was able to locate particles of magic and began releasing her own. As her magic spread, draining her almost completely of her mana, Jinx was able to apply a hex on the illusion itself, disabling it, and returning the arena back to the original room they were in. Iris also became visible again. Exhausted, Jinx fell to the ground.
"What? How did you do that? No one has ever managed to disable my illusions… Someone as weak as you should never have been able to do that!" Iris screamed.
"Incredible… Who knew you could do stuff like that? Oh well, now it's my time to shine," Aspen remarked. She began conjuring a giant icicle, one that was even larger than a person. As frost covered her entire body, Aspen threw the icicle at Iris, completely encasing her in ice when it landed, except for her face, so she could still breathe. Instead of piercing her body like the other icicles, this one was controlled by Aspen's own magic power and morphed perfectly around Iris as it made contact.
Iris was sealed completely in the ice, and could not move.
Aspen exhaled, her breath visible from how cold it was. She ran over to Jinx, sat her up, and attempted to help her. "You did it, Jinx. I'm so proud of you," she said, smiling.
"Thanks," Jinx said in response, before getting pulled up to her feet by Aspen.
"Let's go check on the others-"
A bright purple light shone throughout the area. It seemed to be towards where Xander was fighting.
"What's that?" Aspen asked, confused.
"I… I don't know," Jinx responded.
"You've done well, Perses…" The purple lady spoke with an attractive and intimidating voice.
"I think it's time you evolve to a higher state."
Perses floated in the light, the woman descending towards his body, reaching a hand through his chest.
"Simply invigorating."
Xander watched the event unfold before him, suddenly getting knocked over by a boy with spiky hair and tattered clothing who was mysteriously being pulled by an invisible force towards him.
"Ow! What is happening? How did I get over here? Where am- Oh lord what is that?" Joules asked, looking at the purple woman. He turned and looked at Xander. "You're here? One minute I was being burnt to a crisp by the fire freak and now I'm over here with you? Wait… if you're here… So then that must mean… Perses?" Joules looked slowly back toward the light, realizing that his friend was the one who was floating toward the purple light. Joules stood up and started limping toward the light.
"I've seen you before in his memories. You're special to him. Yes, you'll do nicely." The silhouetted woman stared at him and a devilish dark purple smile crept across her shadow-covered face.
"What are you doing to Perses? Leave him alone!" Joules cried out.
"Now, why would I do that when he is about to receive such a lovely gift?" said the glowing woman.
Joules looked terrified. "Please… don't hurt him."
"Why, I would never."
"You liar! Look at him!" Joules yelled.
Perses looked unconscious but with a pained expression on his face as if he were struggling.
Joules looked at the floor and clutched his hand in a fist. "I heard from Perses what happened in his past. He was someone who didn't have any magic ability. He lived a quiet, simple life with his family whom he loved with all his heart. That was until his family was caught in a terrible fight between mages. They managed to survive but were injured and their house was destroyed. Unable to live with his own weakness and inability to protect his loved ones like he wanted to, Perses searched for power. That was when he stumbled upon a person who was willing to give him the power he desired."
The woman smiled devilishly.
"He was desperate, at least that's what he told me, so he accepted the deal, unaware that it would cost him. As he arrived home that night, he was met with the sight of his entire family dead. The woman who offered him power was also there and had killed his family as some sort of sacrifice deal. Then, a purple light shone, and the souls of his dead family members left their bodies and were absorbed into his own, forcing upon him a dangerous power. Sword of Damocles. The sight of his dead family sent him into even deeper despair, and he immediately lost control of his new power, destroying the bodies of his family. They… they couldn't even have a proper burial." Joules started to choke up and cry.
"Perses…" Xander couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"It turns out this woman who gave him this insane power wasn't just a regular woman. He never told me what he meant by that, but I can tell…" Joules looked up at the woman. "You're the one who hurt him, aren't you? The one who killed his family? And turned his life into what it is now?" Joules was crying.
"My, aren't you a clever one?" she spoke. "Well, that is enough of your rambling. You only have one use now…"
Joules gasped and started to back away slowly, before turning around and sprinting the other way. "Xander, get out of here! This woman is- Agh-!" He too began to float, just like Perses.
"What are you doing with them? Put both of them down!" Xander called out in between coughs. He was still exhausted from his previous fight, unable to move much from using too much magic.
"Let me go!" Joules cried, panicking.
"You don't understand. You are an important piece for his development. You should be proud to be used in this way."
"No! Joules!" Xander forced himself to stand up, despite his fatigue, and limped over to Joules. "Grab my hand!"
Joules reached his hands out to grab onto Xander, but he was being pulled too strongly. Just narrowly missing his hand, Joules was pulled toward Perses and the woman. "Xander! Help!"
"Joules!" Xander tripped and fell, his exhaustion catching up with him.
Joules screamed and cried. A yellow, glowing wisp emerged from his face and exited his body through his mouth. The screaming and crying stopped, and his body went completely limp. Joules was tossed to the side, landing in a pile of rubble, a thick cloud dispersing.
"What…?" Xander watched, dumbfounded. "Joules…" He couldn't find any words to say. "Joules!" he screamed. His voice echoed through the alleyways, reaching all of the others.
"This soul means something special to you. Who knows what it'll do to you and your power?"
The yellow wisp from Joules sank into Perses' body and faded.
"Ritual complete. The Sword of Damocles grows stronger with the fruits of a meaningful bond."
The light, just as quickly, faded and the woman was gone. Perses hit the ground with a resounding thud, forming a crater, forming cracks on the ground for a long distance. The air became dense and cuts formed on Xander's skin, who was crawling over to Joules.
Perses was unconsciously using his power.
Xander attempted to use his magic to block the oncoming attacks but to no avail. He didn't have a drop of mana left to even conjure a gust of wind. Even so, he crawled toward Joules, watching as everything for as far as he could see leveled itself out from the flurry of strikes.
"What… What happened? Is he okay? This isn't good. Who was that woman? I feel like I've seen her before somewhere." As Xander made it about halfway to Joules, he could see a fire burning with figures standing in it, and another group on the complete opposite side. The slashes stopped, and Perses' power was no longer surging from the intake of Joules' soul. Xander was bleeding from hundreds of tiny little cuts.
"Xander! Are you okay?" voices from both parties shouted.
Xander could barely see or hear, his vision was blurry and his ears were ringing. He couldn't muster the strength to shout, so he remained idle.
The figures on both sides were his friends. They all ran toward Xander, attempting to help him up before getting blown away from him due to some mysterious attack. They were all thrown to the side by that attack, getting knocked unconscious. A blue rift manifested in the sky above the now completely leveled-out arena.
"I sensed her presence here. Is it the Potential's doing?" A deep voice boomed from the expanding crack.
"I did too. Whatever these kids are doing, she must have had an interest in something here," a second, more raspy voice added.
The rift expanded, and three new figures fell through it, landing on the ground with a heavy thud. The first of the three was wearing a gray tunic with a dark cloak fastened by a brooch which had a design that could not be made out. Despite it being hard for Xander to see, it was clearly visible that this person was not any ordinary human. There was no skin or flesh of any kind on his body. His head was a skull, and his fingers were just bones. He was a skeleton.
"W… what?" Xander asked, groggily.
The one in the middle was a slightly muscular, but still relatively slender man, donning the same dark cloak with the same brooch as his comrades. The feature that made him stand out was his comedy mask, which had teardrop designs. He wore diamond-patterned pants and had straight, white hair that ran chin-length.
The far left of the group was a woman. She had green hair that ran to her shoulders with a flower crown of varying color. She was beautiful, despite very clearly being dangerous. She wore a cloak of her own, covered in vines and flowers, and a long skirt to complete the look.
"Look! Look! I think that's him~." She squealed, pointing at Xander as if he were some sort of celebrity. "You're pretty unique, I've heard all about you, Mr. Copy! That's you, right?"
Xander stared up at her without responding, fatigued and a little dizzy, still sick from what happened only moments earlier.
"Ivy, contain yourself. We are here to retrieve Iris and the boy. You can observe him later." The masked figure commanded.
"Ugh, fine… You're such a buzzkill, Rex!" the woman known as Ivy whined.
"Well, we do need to know if you're the one we are after. Our asset should have examined you, correct?" The man with the mask, Rex, cocked his head at Xander.
Xander didn't respond.
"Can't you speak? I'm sure you can, right? Then answer me." Rex took a step toward Xander.
Once again, Xander was silent.
"Jeez… you're going to make this difficult huh? It's fine, we'll take you back with us anyway." Within an instant, the man disappeared, only to reappear behind Xander just as quickly.
Xander turned around only to be met with Rex's mask only inches away from his face, his eyes wide open inside the mask.
"How'd he get behind me that quickly?" Xander panicked, too scared to move.
The sound of metal slashing metal rang through the arena.
"Huh? You're not the boy I'm interested in." Rex spoke. "Though… you are interesting too."
It was Kylo. "Get away from Xander. He's exhausted."
"I'd be worried about yourself if I were you. Well, it's funny how you showed up here. We happen to have someone just for you. I hope you have fun too!" It wasn't visible due to his mask, but Rex smiled a large, creepy grin.
Rex looked up at the sky, and another rift just like the other one opened up again. A teenage boy no older than Xander dropped down onto his feet just before Xander. He wore a tattered gray scarf and had long, reddish hair tied back in a ponytail that ran down to the bottom of his neck. His clothing consisted of a white kimono with a black obi around his waist. Right beneath it was a sheath with a blade handle sticking out of it.
Speaking very groggily, he ran a hand through his hair, pulling bits of it out of his eyes before it fell back in place. "What did you summon me here for, man… I was sleeping. This better be worth my time."
"Sou, please, show some respect. This is the Potential and his classmates. I'm sure they'll be worth your while." Rex spoke sarcastically. "The one named Kylo is right beside me with his blade."
"How do you know my name?" Kylo stepped back.
"Kylo…" Sou drew his blade slowly and his demeanor shifted into a subtle air of violence. "Oh yeah, I remember you. You're the worst version of me."
"Remember? I don't even know you. And what do you mean, the worst version of you?" Kylo asked, backing further away but maintaining his stance.
"We haven't met, but we might as well have. I know all about you. Eh, it's not worth explaining, though. I will say, though, that Ivy over here told me a lot about all of you guys." He pointed behind himself, towards Ivy and the skeleton man. "You may know her as Ms. Valentina, though,"
Kylo gasped. "The teacher that got fired those years ago?"
Ivy giggled. "In the flesh, darling! I'm glad to know you're still growing big and strong! I remember the days when you were just a little boy, practicing under Max Lacuna's wing! Too bad he isn't here right now, it'd be like a family reunion! Minus the familial blood, hehe."
Kylo gritted his teeth. "Leave. You're not supposed to be here."
"Oh come on," Sou yawned. "We can all be buddies right?" Sou asked, in a manner similar to Kylo's own personality.
"My only buddies are the ones who you knocked unconscious. They're my family. We aren't buddies." Kylo was enraged.
"Jeez, you really are boring. Rex, if I finish this up quickly, can you send me back home soon?" Sou moaned.
Rex sighed then chuckled. "Go ahead."
Sou grinned and started walking slowly toward Kylo, drawing his sword. The blade had a unique black and blue flame coming off of it. Kylo got in a stance to block an attack using his own sword.
Sou leaped forward, attacking Kylo with insane speed.
Kylo managed to block at the last second, but couldn't see Sou's oncoming attack. "What the hell? How is he so fast?" He thought.
"Wow, you're faster than I thought. This might not be as boring as I thought," Sou teased.
"Shut up." The duo blinked away and were off fighting, locked in sword-to-sword combat faster than comprehensible. The fight was barely visible, only the occasional sparks from swords clashing made it clear what was happening.
"Jeez… teenagers," Ivy shook her head, facepalming. She focused back on Xander. "You're pretty quiet for your age. I'd have thought Kylo would've rubbed off on you. No worries, I like how diverse this world is! Tell me, do you appreciate your power?"
Rex laughed. "I don't think he understands his power, Ivy. What a dumb question."
"Ugh, will you let the boy speak? He's an important piece in our plan. I want to hear from him."
Xander looked at both of them without moving his head but was still silent. "What are they talking about? What is going on?" he thought to himself. His eyes darted all around the area, to each of the people who were around him. His breathing was shallow yet slow.
"You're not going to talk, are you?" Ivy sounded disappointed. "Oh well. We'll have lots of time to chat when we get back." Vines came out of the ground and wrapped around Xander's body, holding him to the ground.
"Just hold tight for a second, Potential. We have to locate Iris. Her dad would like to have a word with her," Rex vanished.
Jinx and Aspen came running up to where Xander was, having both just woken up from getting knocked out previously.
"Let Xander go!" Aspen shouted.
"What do you mean my dad would like to talk to her?" Jinx asked.
The skeleton knelt down beside Joules' body. "I'll add you to my collection. Ken made for a perfect doll, and you will too." He laid a skeletal hand on Joules' body, and it began to warp into his palm. "I'll work with you later."
Xander screamed at the skeleton as he took the body, but it was muffled by the vines covering his mouth.
"My, my, it looks like you can speak!" Ivy cheered. "See, Lazarus? He can talk!" She said, looking at the skeleton, whose name was apparently Lazarus.
"I said let him go!" Aspen shot icicles at Ivy, which were quickly blocked by a flower petal blooming in front of her, which wilted immediately after having served its duty.
"Now, now, child. No need to get violent," Ivy said, launching herself towards Aspen and Jinx in an attack, vines going wild around the battlefield. Aspen was hit by Ivy herself. Jinx was attacked by a vine, knocking her to the ground.
Xander screamed Jinx's name, but it was muffled.
Aspen cast a wall of ice that she ran up, jumping off the top and attempting to strike Ivy with an ice rod, but was blocked by a thick wall of plants.
"That's a neat ability! I'm glad I got to see it. Thank you for this blessing!" Ivy squealed, running a hand along the ice.
Rex teleported back with a chunk of ice dropping out of a blue rift. "I have located Iris. She's in here."
"My my, girlie, you do have a neat ability. I envy you." Ivy studiously looked at the ice block, Iris froze within.
"I think we can go now." Rex clapped. "Mission complete! Sou, we're leaving," he called. Sou reappeared quickly. He had blood on his arms, his sword back in its sheath.
"We can go? Thank goodness, that kid was boring. Why'd you hype him up so much, Ivy? Really, I got excited for a minute."
"Did you kill him?" Ivy asked, a little nervously.
"Nah, I just slashed him pretty good here and there. He's fallen somewhere…" Sou yawned. "Let's go."
"...Can I catch a break, y'all? I've been stuck fighting stupid animals all day."
Upon hearing that voice, each of the assailants froze in place, fear displayed across their faces.
"No, he shouldn't be here…" Rex gasped.
"Felix should have had it under control!" Ivy whined.
"Ah, so it was you guys there, too. I guess 'Felix's' creatures were just a warmup for me, then." Max hovered in the air above the four opponents. He descended to the ground.
"What are you doing here, Lacuna?" Rex snapped angrily.
"Well… I kinda heard through the grapevine. Y'know how it goes. Psst… that means I heard it from a witness" Max laughed, mocking Rex.
"Get out of my sight!" Rex yelled. A rift appeared above Max, dropping several boulders on him. They simply vanished upon touching him.
"So it is true…" Rex sighed.
"So what's true? That I'm awesome and you're not?" Max chuckled. "What's up with this clown getup anyway? That mask really screams 'insecurity.'" Max pointed and laughed at Rex, holding a hand in front of his face.
"Are you really this immature? I would have thought the great Maximilian Lacuna would be more reserved," Rex retorted, scoffing.
"Yeah, yeah…" Max trailed off. "Well, you can have this as a meeting gift." Max began singing a popular song, when just like that, a semi-truck shot towards Rex, horn blaring. It sailed through the air and crashed into the ground, collecting rubble in a pile before it as it slowed to a halt.
Rex dodged the attack and appeared behind Max, kicking him. Vines wrapped around Max's limbs just as he was about to counterattack.
"I got him!" Ivy gloated.
The vines vanished, allowing Max to fulfill his attack, making contact with Rex's chest.
"Ngh-" Rex coughed, who disappeared using a rift only to reappear behind Lazarus, Ivy, and Sou, who had banded together in a group. Every time Rex disappeared and reappeared, he used rifts as a way to teleport.
"I don't think it's wise to fight him. It wasn't supposed to turn out like this, Rex" Lazarus assessed.
"I wanna fight him. He might make up for Kylo's boringness," Sou replied, drawing his sword.
"That's not smart. Given what we know about his power, you could lose that sword of yours," Lazarus informed
"I'll just cut him up before he can take it! Then we don't have to worry about him."
"No, don't. That will only result in failure-" Before Lazarus could get his warning out, Sou was off, slashing at Max.
"Good grief…" Rex facepalmed, teleporting behind Max to aid Sou's assault.
"Wow, I must be popular!" Max gleamed, pivoting on a foot to ax kick Rex.
"You turned your back on me! First mistake!" Sou shouted, lunging in for a stab to Max's back.
"Here's your first mistake," Max shifted back from Rex, who had vanished from the scene. "Don't shout if you're trying for a sneak attack." As Max knocked Sou away from him, a portal opened above his head. A few miscellaneous objects fell through the rift, dropping on Max, but they instantly disappeared into thin air. Rex kicked at Max, distracting him from the onslaught of random things falling through the rift. Once again, though, the objects vanished seemingly from existence, except for one, which managed to drop onto Max.
He grunted but continued to fight unaffected. Max jumped away from the two of them and got in stance as if he were a pitcher in a baseball game. As he readied his pitch, he threw what appeared to be nothing in his hand.
"What was the point of that?" Rex scoffed.
That was when all of the countless random objects that had previously disappeared suddenly reappeared, all at a much higher velocity and power than before. This made for an effective barrage, attacking both Rex and Sou.
Rex laughed. "Using my own attack against me, heh?"
"Nah." Max leaped around the two of them again, making finger guns. As he arced past them, his fingers recoiled as if firing a gun. Bullets fired rapidly.
Rex yelped, staggering from a hit. Sou dropped on Max from behind and slashed into his shoulder. The firing stopped.
"Thanks, Teach. How was that for a sneak attack?" Sou smiled, swinging for another attack.
Max dodged but was met with several strikes from Rex, who unleashed a barrage of punches in all different directions. Using his portals and teleportation, Rex was able to attack from every direction and angle, staggering and confusing Max.
"I'm not a one-trick pony like you, Max. I have true power," Rex screamed, closing the portals. Max just grinned.
"One-trick pony, you say? I guess one trick is better than none."
The ground itself vanished in a perfect dome-shaped crater beneath Max. Max shot forward like a rocket, dirt shrapnel blowing everywhere, scraping Rex and Sou. Sou dashed after Max. Rex opened a portal in front of Sou as he was running forward, teleporting Sou onto Max from above.
"Haven't we tried this before, guys?" Max asked, sending the dome he had removed from the ground up towards the portal, smashing into Sou and closing the portal. He reappeared where he originally was.
"Damn it," Sou yelled, kicking off the ground and moving to strike Max once more. Flower petals obscured the field and Sou bounced off of each one wildly, like an arena. Max took strike after strike, objects flying at him from outside the petal arena.
"Sou's insubordination will not go unpunished" Lazarus groaned, Ken next to him.
"Really? He seems to be controlling Max pretty well" Ivy retorted.
"That depends on how this goes."
Back in the giant flower arena, Max stood, metal plates spawning around him to block each of Sou's attacks.
"You're boring, too. You don't fight," Sou complained to Max.
"I'm sorry I'm not up to your expectations" Max apologized. "I hope this can make up for it?"
The entire area erupted in powerful flames. The opponents retreated, leaving Max alone in his ring of safety.
"What the hell is that? I thought the fire kid was asleep!" Sou yelled, getting cut off by various vehicles shooting towards him. He twisted in the air like an acrobat and mutilated the cars. It seems Max also unleashed the cars.
"Get out of there!" Lazarus commanded, panicked.
Max stood up and pointed upwards. The flames rose, enveloping Sou completely. Water came crashing down on the fire, extinguishing it instantly.
"Don't just go picking on kids, now," Rex chuckled, closing the portals that dropped the water, reappearing in front of Max, punching him. Max countered the punches with attacks of his own.
A vine slapped Max, who toppled over but expertly flipped back onto his feet and caught the next one, removing it. Sou appeared from behind the vines, ready to strike with his sword, only to be hit by the same vine, this time being used by Max.
"Picking on kids? All of you are bullying me, an adult. A fully grown adult," Max said. "I think I'll remove old bones over here first."
Two piles of rubble came closing in on Max after Ken clapped his hands, vanishing back into Lazarus after doing his job. Rex opened a portal underneath the rubble and dropped it back into itself, the rubble perpetually falling with Max inside. The rubble vanished, exploding outward. Rex got struck in the head with it and a blue light, the same as the light from the portals, shone from underneath the left eye of his mask. Instantly, he covered his cracked mask with his hand.
"Really? Using one of my own students against me? That really is low." Max said, seriously. "What really happened to him and the rest of the expedition team?" he asked.
"No need for you to know that now, is there?" Lazarus chuckled.
Max appeared from the shadows and bound for Lazarus.
"Oh! Nice necklace! Mind if I have it?" Max joked, reaching for the pendant around Lazarus' neck.
Lazarus hissed, protecting the pendant with both of his bony hands. A portal opened underneath him, teleporting him away.
"We're retreating. We are retreating," Rex stated rather sternly.
"We were doing damage, though!" Sou whined.
"No, we are just playmates to him. We'll return in greater numbers later. I hope our spy completed both his tasks. We'll know back at base" Rex said, upset.
"I want to stay though…" Sou whined like a little kid, vanishing through a blue portal.
"Maximilian Lacuna, you are formidable. But you know not what you do. Fear not, the Acolytes of the Dark March will keep you and your friend company sometime soon."
"Bye-bye! So sorry to leave when the welcome back party just got started!" Ivy said, vanishing in blue. The vines that were holding Xander disintegrated, dropping him on the ground with a thud.
Rex was the last to leave. "Just wait… We will be back and will destroy you and your little friends." As Rex stepped through the portal, a new one opened underneath the giant ice block that encased Iris, taking her with him.
"Oh, no you don't!" Max leaped forward, trying to save Iris from being taken away. He was too slow, however, and Iris was teleported away as well.
"Shit. I can't believe I'd let multiple students get injured, and one was even taken away…" he thought.
He pondered on what Rex had just said. "I want to see you try," Max said, now to himself.
The desolate and ruined battlefield that used to be an abandoned school wing was now completely silent. Max turned.
He ran and ran, finding each of his students. He picked each of them up and gathered them in one area, so he could protect them should anything else happen. He also tried to administer immediate first-aid.
"I am so sorry you had to experience this, guys… I should have been here to protect all of you sooner." Max wept to himself. "We'll figure it out."
After several minutes, a few of the students woke up and spoke with Max about what had happened.
"So… Iris was trying to capture you, Jinx? Tch. I should have known that the two of you couldn't be left alone together." Max said to her.
"I'm sorry I could barely defend myself. It's all my fault for getting targeted." Tears fell down Jinx's cheeks.
"Don't worry, it isn't your fault. You did the best you could, I'm proud of you," Max consoled her.
"Yeah, besides, you helped save me!" Aspen wrapped her arms around Jinx, comforting her.
Max smiled and moved over to Apollo, who was lying unconscious, covered in severe burns. "He lost control of his power?" Max asked Kylo.
"Mhm… he was like a completely different person. I don't even know what could have triggered such an insane burst of power. I mean, sure, obviously he was pissed about what happened with Jinx. We all were. But this? It's like he reached a level of his power that he just couldn't control." Kylo replied somberly, wrapping his wounds in shreds of his clothing.
"Hm… I had no clue he had such a limit, and that it could be broken that easily," Max looked up at Kylo. "Well, I'm proud of you too. You did well to protect your friends. It was brave what you did back there, trying to save Xander."
Kylo smiled. "Thanks, Max."
Lastly, Max turned to Xander, who was sitting with his legs crossed. He looked completely distraught. His eyes were wide, and his breathing was still shaky.
"Hey," Max put his hand on Xander's shoulder. "I need you to tell me what happened. Can you do that?" he asked.
"I… uh-" His words got caught in his mouth, and he couldn't speak.
"Here," Max smiled, a bottle of water appearing in his hands. He gave it to Xander. "Drink."
Xander took the water and drank it quickly. He gasped for air when he finished.
"Now, what happened?"
Xander tried again. "Um… Perses and I fought for a bit… and, then…" He looked at Perses, who was lying to the side, asleep. "Um… when I beat him, he started to float, and this purple woman showed up. She pulled Joules over to us and…" Replaying the scene in his head, Xander felt nauseous. He quickly got up, ran to the side, and vomited.
"Xander…" Max looked at him. "What could have happened while I was gone to have him so shaken up?"
Xander slowly walked back, sitting back down in front of them. "Joules was killed. In front of my own eyes. I couldn't even do anything except watch while his soul was torn from his own body, which was tossed to the side like it was nothing. I…" Xander started crying. "I couldn't do anything!"
"Xander…" Max brought him in for a hug. "It's okay. You did the best you could." Xander sat lifeless, staring off into space, in Max's arms.
After releasing the hug, Max stood up and looked around. "Those people, whoever they are, are evil. They would come in while I was away and kill one of my students? They won't get away with this." Max looked at the night sky, his eyes showing determination.
He looked back down at Xander, then to the rest of his students, Apollo, Kylo, Shiro, Perses, Aspen, and Jinx. "We won't let them get away with this."
Chapter 10 END
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