Daniel and I were the last to arrive at the clearing. We needed to take bit of a rest, while everyone went on ahead. What we saw when we arrived was complete chaos.
Most of our Demi-God team were involved in combat with a great deal of the Green creatures the AMU had been dealing with. The Biker was dual wielding, with his bike in one hand and sword in the other. The Demi-God hunter was fighting back with his bombs and flamethrower. Phantasm was in his second form, blasting through the Green Men with his guns. Justin and Kimiko had even joined the fight, wielding their respective weapons, and holding their own pretty well.
There was also a tank there, for some reason...
Then there was Ben and Myrir, who were fighting together side by side, and working surprisingly well together. I really need to figure out what the history is between those two...
Then Ben did something I wasn't expecting. His shirt split open, revealing a large, vertical mouth on his torso, lined with red fangs. The mouth opened up, sending out what seemed like a dozen black tendrils, which entangled the limbs and throat of one of the Green Men, pulling tightly until its body was torn to pieces, which were quickly pulled inside of the mouth, which closed itself, clicking its teeth as it did.
“Um... did my cousin just eat a guy?” I asked, somewhat horrified.
“Oh, yeah,” Daniel calmly replied, turning to me. “What, you didn't know about his crazy chest mouth?”
“This is my first time hearing anything about it,” I said. “But I guess the movement under his shirt makes sense now...”
Several Green Men turned their attention to us, and charged.
“Heads up!” I said, reaching to draw my sword.
Daniel, without missing a beat, aimed his finger slightly to the left of the group of them, and whispered a soft “Bang.”
Rather then the short burst of lightning he usually shoots out, he put out a continuous stream, and slowly moved his hand to the other side, tearing through them. He ended the stream once their twitching remains were lying before us. His arm then fell limp at his side.
“That.. works...,” I said, shock a bit. “You good?”
His forearm was still limp, and giving off some small sparks. He must have pushed himself pretty hard to perform that attack.
“I'm okay,” he said. With some effort, he was able to make a fist. “See? Totally fine.”
I could tell he was stretching the definition of “Fine”, but I didn't push it. I looked ahead, to see a group of various people from the AMU, along with some other people retreating toward the former Newborn tower.
“Something tells me they're gonna need that Newborn sword-cane of yours,” I said, drawing my sword. “Let's wrap this up quick so you can catch up to them.”
“Let's get it done,” he agreed.
It took some time, but together with the rest of the team, we were able to dispatch all of the Green Men. Afterwards, we all took a seat, recovering our strength.
“That was rough,” Daniel said. “Let's all catch our breath, then get to that tower.”
“Um,” Molly said, approaching us, looking at Daniel's arm. “May I have a look at that?”
Daniel offered her his damaged hand, and she did some magic stuff to it. He flexed his fingers a bit, showing that the damage he had done to himself had been healed.
“White mage, huh?” Daniel said. “Thanks. That's pretty useful.”
“Oy!” Ciel shouted, offended. “I don''t care how magic you are! I'm the one who heals that idiot's wounds! Know your place!”
Molly looked away, looking a little hurt, but Daniel just chuckled.
“Don't feel too bad,” he said. “She'll warm up to you. Eventually. Maybe. Probably not. But don't get discouraged. She's a total sweetheart once you get to know her.”
“Fuck you,” Ciel snapped.
“See what I mean?” Daniel smirked. “Total sweetheart.”
Suddenly, some sort of rift opened up, and a mysterious figure stepped through it.
They had the appearance of a knight clad in black and purple armor, with some hints of gold. I couldn't see their face through their helmet, but I could see two faint pricks of golden light through the helmets eye slit. They had a long sword sheathed at their waist.
“Who the hell is this?” Daniel muttered, rising to his feet.
The knight drew their sword, pointing it at Daniel.
“Daniel Xavier Ferris!” the knight said. “I have come to claim your life!”
“For the love of...,” Daniel said. “We don't have time for this.”
I stood up, standing between them, gripping my sword tightly.
“Get to the tower,” I told Daniel. “They need you there. I'll deal with clashing colors over here.”
“Think you can handle them?” Daniel asked.
My instincts were telling that no, I absolutely couldn't beat them on my own. But some much stronger instincts were telling me we couldn't afford to hold Daniel up any longer. He needed to get to that tower. I looked around at our allies. Most of them were still recovering, but the Biker and Phantasm, who had reverted to his first form, were almost ready to go.
“Don't worry about me,” I said. “I'll have backup soon. Just go.”
Daniel nodded, and teleported away.
“So, David Eric Kallaway,” the knight said. “You intend to buy time for your Daniel?”
“How do you know my middle name?” I demanded, gripping my sword tightly with both hands.”No one knows my middle name.”
“No one in this world,” the knight replied, raising their sword as well.
I turned to Molly.
“Keep your distance, and provide support however you can,” I instructed.
She nodded, and I turned back to the knight. The two of us then charged at each other. Our blades collided, and I could immediately feel how vast his strength was. I had both hands on my sword, but he was able to match the force of my swings with only one hand. He managed to push me back, and raised his free hand. I suddenly felt the air around me thicken. I instinctively threw myself off to the side. It's a good thing I did, too, because a moment later, the space I had just been standing in was occupied by a sphere of what seemed to be several transparent, spinning blades.
“What in the-?” I muttered.
He rushed at me, prepared to stab me, but was met with a force field springing up between us. He turned his head to face Molly, seemingly realizing that it was her doing. He raised his free hand in her direction, and I quickly called out to her to move.
Then, out of nowhere, a chain came flying toward her, dragging out of the way just before another sphere of whirling blades appeared where she had been standing.
“You okay?” The Biker, who was now on his feet, asked her, as his chain wrapped itself around his torso.
“Yeah,” she said. “What was that?”
I charged at the knight again, keeping his attention on me before he could use that power again.
“It's some kind of razor wind attack!” I called out to them. “Stay on your toes! It could be a problem if any of us stay in one spot too long!”
The knight finessed his sword in such a way to shift my blade to the side, exposing my chest. He raised his free hand again, and fired a bolt of peach colored light, which slammed into my chest, causing me to drop my sword as I was sent flying backwards. I landed on my back, and struggled to raise myself up onto my elbows to face him again.
“You figured out one of my party tricks,” the knight said, as more peach colored light began building up in his hand. “But I've got plenty-”
He was cut off, as a hail of bullets began hitting his armor. He paused, and turned to face Phantasm, who was now on his knees, firing at the knight. The light charging in the knight's hand darkened to a deep violet, and he took aim, firing the blast of energy directly at Phantasm. The blast hit him, sending him flying, and crashing into a tree. He fell down to the ground.
The Biker charged at the knight from behind, blade swinging. The knight turned to clash with him.
“I've got him for now!” The Biker said. “Go check on the old man!”
I scooped up my sword, and ran to go check on Phantasm. He looked wounded, but was still breathing. I felt a brief sense of relief, before I noticed that his hood had fallen down. I slowed to a halt as I came to the realization that I had seen his face before.
“You should be dead...,” I muttered.
He chuckled a bit, as he wiped a bit of blood away from his mouth. “Yeah, that blast nearly did me in.”
“That's not what I meant,” I said, as I gripped sword tightly and approached him slowly. “You should be dead!”
My father's eyes widened, as he reached up to his face, and realized his hood was no longer in place.
“Well,” he muttered. “That's some shit timing...”
I raised my blade to his throat, staring daggers at him as I did.
“I killed you,” I said.
“So you did,” he said.
Suddenly, a clip point hunting knife appeared in his hand, and he knocked my blade away with it, quickly rolling into a crouch a bit further away from me.
“Unfortunately, my Master deems me too valuable to remain in such a state,” he said. “The past few centuries of my life have been a cycle of endless death and rebirth, all so that I may continue my servitude.”
“You killed my mother!” I hissed at him.
He rose to his feet, as a claw emerged from inside his sleeve, pulling the knife back inside of it.
“You assume I am without regret?” he asked.
I gritted my teeth and maintained my death glare.
He let out a sigh, and sent out a pair of what appeared to be grappling cords from within his sleeves to retrieve his lost guns.
“You have every right to loath me,” he said, as he shifted into his second form. “But I'm sure you're mature enough to put this grudge on hold for the time being. After all...”
The Biker suddenly let out a shriek of pain. I turned in his direction, to see him covered in slashes, one of which had cut through his blindfold, exposing his eyes. He must have been caught up in that wind attack. He collapsed, writhing in pain, as the knight turned his attention to the two of us.
“We have to deal with him...,” my father muttered, pulling his chain-mail hood up to conceal his face again.
I gripped my sword with both hands and turned back to the knight.
“We're not done here,” I hissed.
“I know,” my father said, taking aim with both guns. “But this can wait until after we've killed him.”
The knight raised a hand, and a pair of rifts opened up in the sky above him. Beyond the rifts was a dark purple sky, and a couple of violet meteors came flying out of them, falling toward my father, who blasted them down with his explosive bullets.
While the two of them were focused on sending meteors and bullets flying at each other, I rushed over to check on the biker. He was on his hands and knees, panting heavily. His body was covered in deep gashes. I was surprised he was still breathing after taking that much damage.
“You look bad,” I said. “Are you gonna be okay?”
“Eh,” he said, giving me a half shrug with the shoulder that wasn't bleeding heavily. “I once had my entire body torn into atoms. If I could recover from that, I'm sure I can brush this off soon enough.”
I watched as a meteor grazed my father's shoulder, knocking him to the ground and causing him to drop his guns again. The knight began approaching him, gripping his sword tightly.
“That's not soon enough,” I said, placing a hand on the biker's good shoulder. “We need to do something. As much as I'd love to watch my asshole dad die again, if we let the knight take him out we'll be down a major player, and we can't afford that right now.”
“Don't stress out,” the biker said, positioning himself so that he was sitting down, resting an arm on his raised knee, and lifting his other hand to point to his exposed eyes. “Do you know what these are on my pupils?”
I looked at the glowing pentagrams engraved in his eyes, a little confused.
“I'm assuming some kind of eldritch body mod?” I guessed.
“Well, you're not wrong,” he said, turning his hand so that his palm was facing the knight.. “But the truth is, they're keys. And this...”
A complex, glowing glyph appeared in the air in front of his hand.
“...Is a keyhole,” he finished.
He placed a palm upon the glyph, and turned his hand to the side. As he did, both the glyph, and the markings engraved in his eyes glowed a lot more fiercely.
“I invoke the blasphemous magicks sealed away by the Crimson Circle!” He chanted. “Infernal Seal 1! Daemon Fyre!”
A stream of fire, emitting a strange cackling sound, erupted from the glyph, and rushed at the knight. The flames smacked into the side of his helmet, scorching it slightly and throwing him off a bit. The flames them began dancing around him, as he fended them off with his sword.
“Are those flames... screwing with him?” I asked.
“Yeah... they are unfortunately sentient,” the biker explained. “And also, huge trolls. They're incredibly powerful, but they love to mess with their targets before actually finishing them off. They do make for a good distraction though. At least until they inevitably decide to turn on me, at which point I'm left with no other choice but to seal them away again.”
“That sounds kind of... risky and impractical,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, there's a reason literal Daemon Lords sealed them away,” the biker said.
Suddenly, the knight, growing irritated with the living flames, surrounded his body with a much larger version of his razor wind sphere, causing the flames to draw back, letting out an angry shriek as they did.
“Interesting,” the biker muttered. “The flames may be demonic, but they still require oxygen to burn. That razor wind attack of his works by converting the air in a targeted area to sharpen itself into a series of dense blades that can't be used as fuel.”
“So he can use that ability on himself to repel fire based attacks,” I said. “And his armor protects him from any damage he would take himself.”
The biker nodded, as the knight turned back to face us. As his attention turned away from my father, the old bastard rose to his knees. The biker perked up a little bit at the sight of that.
“Oh, good!” he said. “We won't need you anymore.”
He turned his hand, which was still placed upon the glyph, the other way, causing the flames to get sucked back into the glyph, which vanished afterwards.
The knight fired a blast of peach colored light at us, which I managed to catch with my gauntlet, and throw back at him. He effortlessly deflected it with his sword. As he did, my father retrieved one of his discarded guns, and entered a new form.
His chain-mail hood was replaced by a series if metal plates, forming the shape of a hood, and his cloak was now replaced by a pair of wings composed of overlapping metal plates. His armor was now a mix of both black and white, and what little I could see of his face was now paler. Additionally, the gun he had retrieved transformed into a handheld Gatling gun.
He fired a few rounds into the knight's back, which did little more than annoy and distract him. He then flew to collect his other gun, which also transformed into a Gatling gun the moment it met his hand. He then flew with alarming speed to position himself between us and the knight, outstretching his wing to provide us with some cover.
“How much longer 'til you're healed up?” my father asked.
The biker took a quick look as his injuries, which were still present, but significantly less serious.
“Buy me a couple minutes,” he biker said.
“You got it,” my father said, and began opening fire with both Gatling guns.
Only a few shots landed before a rift opened up in front of the knight. The rest of the bullets flew harmlessly through the rift, missing the knight entirely. My father took his fingers off the triggers, and lowered both guns.
“So he can use those rifts defensively,” my father mused.
“Yeah,” the biker confirmed. “I've used that trick myself a couple times, but my rifts take a lot of effort to open, and I can recover from practically anything, so it's usually not worth it for me. This guy, though...”
“He barely gives a thought to opening his rifts,” I said. “It's like they're opening on their own.”
“Meaning?” The biker asked.
“Well, it could just be my instincts talking,” I said. “But...”
Before I could finish that thought, the rift vanished, and I saw that the knight now had a ball of violet light clutched in his hand. I quickly realized that the entire time his defensive rift had been up, he had been charging an attack.
I pushed past my father, as the knight sent the energy attack flying at us. I managed to catch it in the palm of my gauntlet. I struggled to contain the power for a moment, before getting a hold of it. I reeled back my arm, looking as though I was about to throw it back to him like a baseball. He brought his sword up in from of him, to defend himself.
Exactly what I wanted him to do.
I slipped into the God's Way, and appeared behind him. It hurt like hell, but I had enough strength to slam the energy ball directly into his face, just as he noticed my presence behind him and turned to face me. The energy ball caused some serious damage to his helmet, as the pain of entering the God's Way set in, and I collapsed to my knees.
I struggled against the pain to look back up at him, as he tore a large chunk of his helmet off. All that was left was a bit of metal on one side of chin. Now that most of his face was exposed, I stared at him in shock, as he took some time to clear his eyes from the ashes of his destroyed helmet. I took a gulp before speaking again.
“Well,” I said. “This confirms one of two things. Either the AMU really does have a cloning lab in their basement. Or...”
The knight finished clearing his eyes, before locking them with mine.
“The multiverse is real,” He confirmed, having a face nearly identical to Daniel's.
There were a few things that were definitely off though. Unlike Daniel's long, braided hair, this man's hair was short and spiky, and had purple and gold highlights mixed into the natural brown. Dark purple markings ran down his cheeks like a cheetah's tear markings. But his eyes were the worst of all of it. They had pitch black schlera, deep purple irises, and glowing golden pupils. They were... inhuman.
“Just what the hell are you?” I demanded.
He smirked at me in response.
“I... am the Sentinal,” he replied. “Servant to the Path of Chaos. Through the Path, I am able to traverse the multiverse, seeking out my alternate selves, so that I may kill them.”
“But why?” I asked. “Why would you do that to other versions of yourself?
“The Path of Chaos has gifted me with a unique power,” he explained. “I am able to absorb the corpses of my other selves, and in doing so, I can add their power to my own.”
I see. That's how he got so many different powers under his belt. The Multiverse. Infinite universes. Infinite Daniel's. Infinite possibilities of what he could be capable of. And if he added my Daniel's power-set to his own... that would be a problem.
“So that's it then?” I asked. “You're just trying to gain power? To what end?”
“Once I have gained enough power, I shall ascend,” he said. “I shall become a Nephilim of Despair, that all worlds shall grow to fear!”
I tightened my grip on my sword. This guy wasn't just a threat to us, in the moment. He had the potential to become a multiversal threat.
“Yeah, there's no way in hell I'm letting that happen,” I told him.
“Right...,” he muttered.
Before I could react, I felt his foot collide with my chest, sending me flying, dropping my sword as I did. I hit the ground on my back a few yards away.
“That's exactly the same attitude the last version of you I killed had,” he said.
He then lunged at me, sword thrusting forward. I had no change of getting out of the way in time. But to my surprise, my father suddenly appeared between us, and the Sentinal's sword pierced straight through his chest, the tip poking out from between his shoulder blades. My father quickly grabbed the Sentinal's arm with both hands, holding him in place.
“Gotcha!” My father said, as the metal plates making up his wings began to spread out, emitting a glowing red light from between the plates.
“Ugh, this again,” I heard the Sentinal say. I could practically feel him rolling his eyes as my father's wings wrapped around him, and encased him in a dome of radiant power.
My father fell backwards in front of me. There was a cloud of smoke where the Sentinal had been standing, and the blade of his sword, which had been broken away from its hilt, was still lodged in my father's chest.
“Molly!” I called out. “Get over here! Quick!”
I got up and yanked the blade out of my father's chest, as she rushed over to us.
“We need healing magic, stat!” I instructed her.
“I'm on it!” she said, and began healing the wound in my father's chest.
“Heh,” my father chuckled. “Though you wanted me dead?”
“Oh, trust me,” I said. “Under other circumstances, I'd gladly let you bleed out.”
“But?” he asked.
I turned my attention back to the cloud of smoke, which was fading away now.
“Whatever that stunt you just pulled was, it wasn't enough,” I said.
The Sentinal stepped from the smoke, sighing deeply. His armor had been damaged, and bits of it were falling off, exposing some of a plain purple t-shirt and blue jeans beneath it, but he was otherwise unharmed. He looked at the broken hilt of his sword still in his hand, and casually tossed it aside.
“Such a shame, Hooded Fool,” the Sentinal said, slowly walking towards us.. “Every version of you I've ever fought has always fallen back on that forms failsafe, and you always assume it will be enough. I should have warned you. I am not a foe to be underest-”
He stopped speaking as he bumped into a force field that Molly had conjured up between us.
“Oh,” he muttered. “Well, you are just annoying...”
“Hey, arsehole!” the biker, who was now on his feet, called out. “Don't go forgetting about me!”
The Sentinal turned to face the biker, and immediately shot a pair of golden laser beams out of his pupils, which the Biker barely managed to block with his sword.
“Bloody hell, he has laser eyes!?” the biker said, turning!? Why does he have laser eyes!?”
The lasers pierced through his sword, and tore through his chest.
“Bollocks!” the biker exclaimed, as the Sentinal looked up quickly, causing the lasers to slice through the bikers face, causing him to collapse yet again.
“God damn it!” I snarled. “Stop taking him out of commission, you jackass!”
I charged at the Sentinal and punched him right in the face. He was powerful, sure. But now we were both unarmed, and his armor was compromised. And fighting unarmed is something I'm good at. I had the upper hand now, which quickly became apparent as I began fighting him up close and personal. He was barely able to block any of my attacks, and with each blow I landed, more and more of his armor became damaged and fell to the ground at our feet.
Eventually, he caught my right hand in his left, and attempted to strike me with his other hand, which I caught with my other hand. I vision of his lasers burning through me quickly played through my head, and I ducked down just in time to avoid them, then came back up, headbutting him in the chin. Just after I did, I felt a sudden blow to my solar plexus, knocking the wind out of me. The another blow hit me in the jaw from below, causing me to lose my grip on his hand, and he proceeded to throw me away from him.
I got back to my feet as quickly as I could and turned to face him. He was rubbing his chin where I had hit him, but I was surprised to see that he had sprouted a second pair of arms.
“Oh, come on!” I snapped. “You have got to be freaking kidding me!”
“Hey! You!” a familiar voice called out.
It was the Demi God Hunter. He had apparently recovered enough to enter the fray. The Sentinal turned his attention to him.
“I've faced off against a lot of Demi Gods,” the hunter said. “Even formed temporary alliances with some of them. But you...”
He readied his glaive, prepared to attack.
“I cannot allow your existence to continue,” he said.
He charged, and the Sentinal calmly caught his weapon with both of his right arms, and knocked the hunter away with the other two. His extra arms vanished, as he proceeded to examine the glaive in his hand.
“I know this weapon,” he said, smirking. “And that voice... Isaac Colin O'Zalia, is that you?”
Seriously, what is it with this guy and using people's full names?
“But this?” the Sentinal asked, looking around. “This world... it lacks a certain... presence.”
He grinned broadly as he looked down at the hunter.
“Could it be that the one entity that makes you special in other worlds... doesn't exist here?” he asked. “What a shame... You'd actually be a threat to me otherwise...”
The hunter sighed, and then spoke to the Sentinal with a completely different voice than what I had heard from him before.
“You know, pal,” he said. “You're making a lot of assumptions here.”
He then through a pair of small devices, which landed on either side of the Sentinal, both of which began emitting a ear splitting screech. The Sentinal, being caught between them, began clutching at his ears, and dropped to a knee. The hunter drew his backup weapon, that resembled a metal pipe attached to a sword hilt. He approached the Sentinal, unfazed by the noise the devices were emitting.
He smacked the Sentinal in the skull with his weapon, which made a far louder clanging sound than was natural. He got a couplr more hits in before the Sentinal took a hand off one of his ears to catch the weapon. In response, the hunter placed his free hand up to the Sentinal's now exposed ear, and even more overwhelming noise began playing from a speaking on his palm, causing the Sentinal to collapse to his knees, crying out in pain.
“I've got a lot of anti Demi God weapons up my sleeve,” the hunter said, barely audible over all of his devices. “But I've never found a weapon quite as effective as sound.”
Suddenly, a rift opened on the ground beneath them, revealing a black and purple rocky terrain beneath the two of them. Several stalagmites erupted around the Sentinal, knocking the hunter off his feet, and destroying the two devices on either side of him, cutting off their noise. The Sentinal rose to his feet, rubbing his ear.
“Credit where it's due, Jerome Credence Welric,” the Sentinal hissed. “That's the most pain I've experienced since arriving here.”
The rift beneath him closed off, and what remained of the Sentinal's armor fell to the ground. He tossed the hunter's weapon to the side, and raised a hand, snapping his fingers. A rift appeared above him, and a new sword fell through it, embedding itself in the ground in front of him.
“I'll be sure our death is equally agonizing,” the Sentinal said.
He grasped the hilt of the new sword, and a light erupted from it, surrounding his body and solidifying into a new set of armor.
“Shit,” I muttered, scanning the battlefield to find my sword several feet away. No way I could get to it in time.
The Sentinal raised his sword, preparing to attack, but he paused as a golden bullet struck the back of his helmet. It didn't pierce through, but it was enough to get his attention, and he turned back to face in my direction again.
“Oh,” he muttered. “You're back up...”
A man dressed in dark jeans and a hooded leather coat stepped up beside me. He held a solid gold handgun in each hand.
“Jesus Christ,” I said. “Just how many forms do you have?”
“Seven,” my father replied. He sounded much younger than before. He stared down the Sentinal. “And judging by what you mentioned of my third form's failsafe never being enough to finish you, I'm guessing you've never seen any of my forms beyond that one.”
“So what does this one do?” the Sentinal asked.My father shrugged.
“Oh, not much. Just something along the lines of...”
Suddenly, another of him appeared right next to the Sentinal, gun trained on his temple.
“...This,” the copy finished, pulling the trigger.
The Sentinal's head snapped back as the bullet bounced off his helmet, and he angrily lashed out, slashing through the copy, which vanished as soon as the attack landed. He turned back to us, and I noticed his helmet was now cracked where the bullet had struck.
“Ah,” my father chuckled. “So that armor of yours isn't quite as resilient against point black shots.”
Several more copies of him appeared around the Sentinal, taking aim, and one of them spoke.
“I'll be sure to keep that in mind,” it said.
They began opening fire, and the Sentinal did his best to avoid their gunfire as he cut them down. But for each copy he cut through, another would appear. While they had him distracted, I ran to retrieve my sword. As I reached it, the Sentinal managed to break away from the copies, and slashed his sword in my father's direction, sending a blade of wind flying at him. As it hit him, my father's body vanished just like the copies did.
“Oh, of course,” one of the copies said. “Target the original body.”
“Because of course I'd have a weakness that obvious,” another one added.
“You've swapped places,” the Sentinal said.
“Observant,” yet another copy said.
I see. So there was no way of knowing which was the real him. Of even if the real him was still here.
“So are even really here?” the Sentinal said, having the same realization as me. “Or have you fled like a coward?”
“Flee?” one of the copies said, chuckling.
“And miss the suffering of an adversary?” another one continued.
“You clearly don't know me very well, do you?” a third one said.
“You haven't even learned my name, have you?” the first said.
“Well, if you're still here,that simplifies things,” Sentinal said. “I simply need to take all of you out at once.”
This caused the copies to start laughing, and more and more of them began appearing around the battlefield, and they began speaking, one after another.
“Go on then.”
“Take...”
“...Us all out...
“...Each...”
“..And every...”
“...One of us...”
“...All...”
“...At...”
“...Once!”
The Sentinal growled, as his sword began glowing. He swung the blade in a circle, surrounding himself in a ring of violet light, which hovered in the air for a moment, before rapidly expanding outwards, cutting through every copy it passed. I stepped in front of one of the copies, raising my gauntlet in front of me, catching the ring of light, and crushing a part of it, leaving a gap in the ring, protecting the copy I was in front of as the others were all cut down.
“Bless those instincts of yours...,” my father said, taking a knee. “Not used to creating that many projections at once...”
“You continue to be a nuisance,” the Sentinal said, turning to me.
“That's a neat power,” I said. “But do you have any forms that might pack more of a punch?”
“Say no more,” my father said.
He then entered a new form. What I saw of him now could only loosely be described as a floating cloak. I was a lot more... chaotic. Like a mass of writhing, tattered fabric, constantly shifting. I could see any of his body within it.
“Now,” and eerie voice spoke from within the cloth. “Let's get you within striking distance.”
“What do mean-?” I tried to ask, before the cloak enveloped me. I was stuck in pitch blackness for a split second before being deposited right beside the Sentinal.
“What1?” the Sentinal said, as I quickly shook off whatever had just happened and crossed blades with him.
As I did, two left arms emerged from the mass of fabric that my father had became, each wielding a double barreled rifle, and shot at the Sentinal, damaging his armor.
“Give it your all!” my father demanded. “Hold nothing back! Us all the power you've gained!”
I did as instructed, and turned on my Vision powers, as I clashed with the Sentinal. He was strong, but I saw his attacks coming a split second early, which was enough time for me to adapt. Furthermore, I could tell what my father was about to do, and act accordingly. My father surrounded us, occasionally sprouting multiple arms to fire at the Sentinal. And with the Sentinal's attention primarily on me, he was unable to properly defend himself.
I began tapping into the Brute's power as well, using my anger towards the Sentinal to bolster my physical strength, adding more power to my sword attacks. I reminded myself of how dangerous of an opponent I was up against, and how I absolutely could not afford to lose. If I let him get to Daniel, he'd be a bigger threat to the multiverse than he already was.
And then, with the Brute's and Vision's powers working in harmony with each other, something unexpected happened. Smoked surrounded my body, transforming into my own suit of armor. Crimson light enveloped my blade, and it expanded, taking on a new, deadlier looking form, and I felt my wings take on a more predatory form.
“This power...!” the Sentinal gasped.
I had no idea what this new power was, but I could tell it wouldn't last long. I needed to act quickly.
“Whatever your name is!” I cried out. “Do it now!”
“Who are you-?” the Sentinal began to ask, but was interrupted when a sticky bomb with a speaker attached to it collided with his helmet. IT immediately began screeching, throwing off the Sentinal's balance.
I owe you one, hunter.
I swung my sword with all my might, shattering the Sentinal's blade, and sending him flying.
“Old man!” I cried out. “Drop him on me!”
My father flew into the Sentinal's flight path, enveloping him the same way he's done to me earlier, and carried him several stories into the air, before releasing him. As the Sentinal fell, four gun wielding arms emerged from the cloak, firing upon him. I readied my sword, gripping it tightly with both hands, and right as the Sentinal fell within range of me, I swung with all my strength, breaking through his armor and sending him crashing through several trees.
My father landed beside me, as the armor I had manifested faded away. I knew that power boost would be temporary. My father reverted back to his original form, panting.
“Usually don't escalate through that many forms in a single battle,” he said. “Took a lot out of me.”
“Yeah,” I said, dropping to my knees and using my sword a prop to keep myself from fully collapsing. “I know what you mean.”
“Don't let your guards down yet,” the hunter said, stepping up to my other side, carrying a slingshot that must have been used to launch that sticky bomb. “He's rising again.”
Sure enough, the Sentinal was rising to his feet, and my heart briefly sank, as I thought that attack hadn't been enough. He then tore his helmet off, and began coughing up blood.
Now that I had a better look, I could see that his armor was horribly damaged, and there was a deep gash across his torso. He turned to me angrily, before taking a deep breath and calming himself, as a rift opened behind him. The hunter reached into a pocket, fishing for another projectile to launch.
“I accept my defeat,” the Sentinal said, stepping backwards. “But mark my words. I will return for that precious Doctor of yours.”
“Oh no you don't!” the hunter said, loading another weapon into his slingshot. But by the time he fired, the rift had already closed, and the Sentinal was gone. “Damn! He's escaped!”
“Don't worry,” my father said. “He said he'll be back. And I'll see to it that we're ready when he returned.”
“Yeah,” I said weakly. “And next time, we'll have Daniel with us. He'll give that bastard a run for his money.
“Well, bugger,” I heard Ben mutter from behind me. “Just when I get back on my feet, the bastard up and bails on us? Didn't even let me have a swing at him.”
“Kind of you to join us,” I said.
“Sorry, Cuz,” Ben replied. “Had to reset a couple bones and wait for them to heal. Would've tagged in sooner otherwise. Oy! Danien! How long are you gonna lay there!?”
The biker, still lying on the ground after taking that laser attack, raised a single middle finger into the air.
“Sod off, mate,” he mutter.
I breathed a sigh of relief. He had survived that attack as well. Damn, he's resilient.
“Right,” Ben said, sprouting his wings. “You guys rest up. I'll fly on ahead and check on Daniel.”
I nodded to him, and he flew off.
“So,” my father said. “I can't help but notice a distinct lack of blade against my throat.”
“Eh,” I said, falling onto my back, as my sword fell beside me. “To tired. My second patricide can wait. Not like it'll stick anyway, right?”
“Maybe,” my father said. “Depends on if I still have a job after all this.”
“What's that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“Oh,” he muttered. “It's not important.”
“Whatever, man,” I said, before turning to the hunter. “So... just who are you, exactly?”
The hunter calmly retrieved his discarded weapons.
“My story can wait,” he said. “But... You have earned my respect, David Kallaway. So I will tell you. In fact...”
He turned to face me.
“I just might just spare you once this is all over,” he said.
“Good to know,” I replied. “I guess now... it's all up to the others. Good luck, Daniel...”
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