78Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrFbmDbtuqSMy vision was blurred as they adjusted to the light. I squinted hard. I could barely make out the others getting to their feet as I did. Though barely successful. I felt groggy. My head felt like it was about to split as my sinuses flared. My hearing wasn't any better. They rang as they readjusted from the blast.
I tried to remember what had happened. We'd survived somehow. Yeah, I...I put up a reinforced barrier around Za'Fia and me at the last second...
I looked to my right and saw her lying on the ground beneath some rubble.
"Za'Fia..." I mustered, my voice sounding far away.
"Yeah, I'm alive," she answered, lifting the debris as she grabbed my hand for support. "Who set off the blast?"
"That would be me," someone stated as two figures crashed onto a platform above us.
The attacker who spoke was a male in a comic-like full, white and gold armor suit with a matching helmet that covered his face. Still, I could see his identity with the biolenses.
His name was Fuse, The Armored Genius, and aside from Fulvia, he was by far the strongest klevonian we'd encountered yet. Fuse was a 3.5-star threat with an EQN of 59,000,000, and he carried a weapon that resembled a double-bladed flick-spear with blades of light. It was a spirit arm — a resonant blade. He also possessed two cintracies: Shine and a temp cintracy called Assimilate.
Then there was his accomplice, a female klevonian with half-light-green-half-black hair and pointed ears that had several earrings pressed into them. She was dressed stylishly but not extravagantly. She wore dark short shorts with a pair of die hanging from them (cool, didn't know they had those on Cindar too). She also wore a white-and-gold jacket that exposed her stomach and a dark bra beneath it. Oh, and she wore a pair of dark biker gloves.
Her name was Felix, or Lucky Gale. She was a 3-star threat, which was confusing since she only had an EQN of 51,000,000 but didn't have a spirit arm or any special cintracies. Based on her bio card, she only possessed two cintracies: Anemos and a temp cintracy called Probability Field.
She sucked on a lollipop nonchalantly as a couple of slightly higher-than-average klevonians stood behind them, waiting for their orders.
"Get started. There's an 83% chance they won't pursue you," she commanded them, resulting in the klevonians initiating a bombardment of energy attacks that destroyed part of the area.
****
Fulvia's jaw clenched as she witnessed fellow klevonians destroy part of a place that was designed for them, too. The klevonians didn't seem to have ascension marks, so they weren't sent by a pneumarian.
Did this not have anything to do with the Pneumarian Forces? If not, who were these klevonians and why were they here?
What kind of shitshow is going on over there? Ject's voice invaded Fulvia's mind. Tell me what I'm sensing isn't happening.
Did someone seriously attack us? It doesn't feel like they're part of the Pneumarian Forces, Oat input.
My blade is ready to serve. Shall I come and aid you? Ziro inquired zealously.
No. Cinder, Luna, and I are present. Everyone stays where they are, I ordered. Make sure no one comes here. And be ready to evacuate at a moment's notice. The ringleader of the enemy is a light user. If he bolts, Oat you're up.
Roger that, Cap'n, he replied with his usual gusto.
I'm certainly glad that it's not my sector under attack, Lant said unnecessarily. To see it destroyed...I can't even think about it. Do we by chance know why we're being attacked?
I don't know, but we'll be sure to take the time to get the answers out of them after we've made them suffer for the innocent people who died in that blast. For now, the rest of you will remain within your sectors in case this isn't the only sector to be attacked. Lant, I want you to leave a couple of clones in Oat's sector while Oat heads to the Forge to ensure no one uses the chaos to steal any cindium.
Will do, Lant stated as Oat replied with, Already on my way.
****
I watched as the four titans before me watched each other closely. I couldn't help but feel inconsequential in this battle. Should I be helping subdue the two klevonians destroying the empty buildings? Or would that just be getting in the way?
"Suppose I'll be taking the lead," Fuse squatted down and put his hand inside the platform he stood on. To clarify, I don't mean he smashed his fist through it. He literally slipped his hand into the material as if it were made of Play-Doh.
With his hand still inside, the platform came to life and began firing off pieces of itself as projectiles, helping the other klevonians with them to raze the area.
"Assimilate. That cintracy lets him merge with inorganic matter and control it," Fulvia told Cinder and Luna. She was just loud enough for them to hear but still be beneath the sounds of alarms and blasts, so Fuse and Felix didn't hear.
"So he can make everything around us his weapon then," Luna said. "That's fine. The area's being evacuated. We'll rebuild whatever is destroyed."
"The real issue is how he implements his abilities with that suit," Cinder stated. "When he flew, I saw he channeled light through propulsors on the bottom of his suit's feet. That suit helps him get around his inability to fly. What else can it do?"
"You two are going to find out," Fulvia commanded. "I'll deal with the tricky one. I read about Probability Field once. It lets her analyze opponents and mentally foresee outcomes in a numerical form. She may not look like it, but that makes her an excellent tactician once she's seen what you can do."
"And everyone knows what the great Titan Generals can do," Cinder stated, getting the picture.
"Yep, but no one other than you Generals has ever seen me fight. Perk of being so young. I'm the quickest way to defeat her."
"It's not like it'd matter even if she had," Luna snickered.
We watched as small pieces of technology rose from Fuse's back and flew off in different directions. I realized they were drones. Fuse used them to shoot lasers off, heading toward the homes near the pier.
"Damn them," Cinder grunted as he stepped forward.
"Dammit, Tymon, where are you!?" I heard Za'Fia's voice clear up from the background noises.
I turned my attention from the attackers as it dawned on me that I hadn't heard from Tymon or Avarice since the initial explosion. I tried to view where they were with All-Sight, but only saw darkness for both. Crap. They must've been among the people who were wiped out by the surprise attack.
"Za'Fia!" I called out, grabbing her as she was lifting more debris to check under. "They're fine, they can't die. We can't do much in this battle, but we can help as many people evacuate until they resurrect."
Hearing that calmed her down some, but I'd be lying if I didn't say seeing the two of them being taken out so easily without so much as a fight didn't unsettle me. For the first time since arriving on Cindar, I felt the confidence I had in my team falter as doubt crept in. Even with my strength, we were nothing compared to most other cindarians.
I looked over at Cinder as the air around became a heated haze. I realized I envied his strength. I could only barely protect Za'Fia and me with a fully reinforced shield, but it was he who prevented the blast from being even worse. I was sure it was his hammer I saw collide with the projectile that fell from the sky, causing the explosion.
"Even I can feel that heat from here," Za'Fia commented as Cinder removed his cloak.
"Of course you feel it too," he stated confidently, rolling his shoulders, readying for battle. The guy seriously was a four-armed giant.
"Even Ekitaihi would be burned by my kind of heat," he boldly claimed.
Lava started to spread from his feet when he suddenly stopped.
"Be cautious not to fight like you'd normally do. There're still too many civilians nearby," Fulvia instructed.
He then chose a different approach to whatever he was about to do. He raised one of his hands and shot bolts of orange lightning from it, blasting Fuse's drones, short-circuiting them.
"Hmph, I intended to destroy them, but they're made of cindium," he said, manifesting his hammer with a smirk. "Guess I'll just have to hit them with something stronger."
He suddenly leaped from the ground and, in a streak of lightning, was before one of the drones, bringing his hammer down on it. The drone was smashed to pieces as he continued to the next.
Luna grinned, enjoying herself as she flew around, willing her saucers to collide with the drones as well, helping him destroy them. Within seconds, each drone was crushed, and Cinder and Luna hovered before Fuse and Felix.
I noticed the two extra klevonians had stopped wreaking havoc and were quietly getting closer, ready to leap at Cinder and Luna. With one signal from Felix, the two klevonians attacked Cinder together, but Cinder easily took them out with one swing of his hammer. The magma from the hammer covered them upon impact before lightning erupted, burning them until they were charred corpses that crashed back to the ground.
This was the first time I saw just how powerful a spirit arm could be.
Cinder looked down in disappointment.
"How did you convince some of our brethren to turn against their kin?" He demanded from Fuse and Felix.
"Ha. That's how you treat your kin?" Fuse mocked.
"Yes. With a merciful, quick death," Cinder said, composed but clearly displeased for being in a position where he had to kill another klevonians. His emotional aura was a mix of a mournful blue and murderous black.
"Wonder how you treat your enemies," Felix added, flexing her power.
But Cinder was too fast. Before anyone could do anything, he speed-blitzed the guy in the armor who was mid-taking aim with propulsors in his hands. In the next instant, Cinder had both of the guy's wrists in the grasp of two of his hands, the third hand was wrapped around the guy's throat, and the fourth hung at his side, carrying his hammer.
"I don't know who you are, but you've got some balls attacking us while I'm here. I'm curious what kind of idiot genius is under this mask," Cinder said as his hammer reverted to ring form. He used that hand to grip Fuse's head and tear the frontal piece of his helmet off, revealing a guy with short, slick, black hair, glowing yellow eyes, and a nice pair of glasses.
Fuse looked annoyed and insulted. Felix started to move, but was stopped by Luna floating between them and Fuse stating, "Don't do anything rash. It's three against one still."
"I've seen you before. You were once part of Oat's division. Known for your genius," Cinder recalled. "Though it seems you've been overestimated. Why'd you desert your own people?"
Fuse struggled within Cinder's vice grip before spitting out, "Dissert? I never felt part of this primitive nation. This was never enough. This isn't where I belonged! What you could offer me. Wasn't. Enough! I'm a genius. One of the greatest minds this world will ever know! Yet I was restricted to keeping mundane degenerates happy instead of being in a lab expanding the boundaries of the known world. I belong with the Sphinx Crest. I always knew I did, but they're gone. I would've happily given myself to them if it meant working with them."
Cinder grimaced in disgust.
"Do you have no pride? What about your free will?"
"You wouldn't understand. You're too dense to know what it's like to be the last true genius in the world. Far surpassing the rest of your kin because those you're supposed to fit in with have all fled and remains elusive even from yourself...which only proves how brilliant they all are.... But then that feeling faded when I received the perfect proposal..." Fuse glared at him.
He started to transform. His hair grew into a thick mane. His suit retracted in several parts as his muscles expanded and grew brown and black fur before the suit properly covered them again with extra protection. His hands grew into paws with talons before morphing back to a more humanoid shape with thick claws. A pair of powerful brown wings grew from his back before retracting again, and a tail whipped around as Fuse grinned maliciously.
His strength began to slowly match Cinder's as Fuse slowly broke his hands free of Cinder's grip, and his tail wrapped around the hand that held him by the throat.
"You received a zenith mark from Aeric..." Cinder remarked in stoic shock.
"Yes," Fuse answered cockily as the propulsors at the bottom of his feet activated, keeping him airborne. "With his aid, I'll be able to locate my lost intellectual equals at last. A little servitude is well worth what I'll gain."
"If you think Aeric will ever free you, you're dumber than I thought," Luna said, crossing her arms observantly.
"I've had enough of this," Fuse scoffed. "Just as these civilians can't understand the methods behind our actions, I don't expect you cretins to understand the methods of a true genius."
The nearby panicking of civilians suddenly distracted Za'Fia and me. The last of the civilians had piled onto the final boat, but with so many trying to leave the river at once, it was like a bad traffic buildup that got people nowhere.
"If these people stay there for long, they'll get caught up in the fight whether Cinder and Luna hold back or not," Za'Fia pointed out.
"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing," I said, positioning myself at the tail end of the traffic jam. "Which is why I'm gonna try to give them a little extra help."
I extended my arms out and concentrated on the river beneath the ships. Surprisingly, I felt a connection set. I was able to use my telekinetic power to will the particles of water to move en masse. It wasn't exactly the same as controlling water like Wren or Rabae could, but it was enough for the situation.
"How long have you been able to do that?" Za'Fia asked in shock.
"Just now," I joked, trying not to laugh to keep from breaking my concentration. Turns out holding water was a lot harder than I thought it would be.
I willed the water level to rise above the pier so that the ships wouldn't risk running into buildings. Then I pulled the water back a little before pushing it forward to create a ripple that gently coerced the ship out of the river and into the open ocean.
Once the last ship sailed out, I leaned over with my hands on my knees for support as I caught my breath. I hadn't transformed, but still, doing that simple task drained me more than expected.
****
Cinder gritted his teeth. Now that he knew the enemy possessed zenith marks, this was going to be tougher than he thought. The girl below didn't seem to have a spirit arm, which made Fuse the bigger threat.
Speaking of the girl, since Fuse stopped her interference, she'd been keeping an eye on Fulvia. Was that their plan? Fuse faces him and Luna while Felix deals with Fulvia? That was a poor plan. Almost laughable.
I'm fine with that, Fulvia stated after he shared his thoughts. Fuse is the bigger threat, and I'm sure it's been far longer for you two than it has been for me since you were last able to get a proper exercise. I'm working on a way for you both to be able to cut loose, but for now, try to keep the destruction to a minimum. Don't let it spill into the populated area.
"Now..." Fuse said, his eyes glowed the mechanical hue of bio lenses as he observed Cinder and then Luna. He kept his gaze fixed on Luna. "As I recall, your abilities will prove troublesome if left unchecked. Let's deal with you first."
In a burst of speed, Fuse dashed toward Luna and struck her hard with his spirit arm. The blow was too fast for her to react to. Unlike the rest of the Generals, Luna wasn't a zaster klevonian, so she didn't have the same boosts in speed and strength that they did. Neither did she have the same regeneration, so a well-targeted, overwhelming, surprise blow like that was able to knock her out before she could put up a fight.
As Luna was sent flying, Cinder placed a red portal in her path that led to him, where he safely caught her. He looked at his comrade in his arms. She was certainly tough. Her saucers had taken the worst of the attack, but the force was still enough to knock her out.
He sighed, knowing she'd feel disgusted with being taken out so easily once she woke. Cinder opened another portal and placed her inside it.
Lant, send a clone to Luna.
Of course. Such a shame she didn't get to have any fun. Though that was probably for the best.
"One down," Fuse said, floating closer. "Too bad I didn't get to kill her, though."
Thunder roared above them in response to Cinder's growing anger. He opened a portal on his left and right and shot lava from them.
Cinder began to dart around as he evaded the blasts, but Cinder simply willed the lava to keep flowing through his Gates of Tartarus in pursuit.
Fuse shot beams of photon lasers from his palm, but that didn't help him in the slightest. Cinder's lava wasn't coming from his spirit energy. He was smart enough to reserve his energy against an enemy with far more energy than him. Instead, he was using the natural lava from their environment. Even with a spirit arm, Fuse's attacks wouldn't stall the lava.
Fuse threw his spear at Cinder. It was the same attack that caused the initial explosion earlier, but Cinder wasn't concerned. He opened a portal before him that sent the spear shooting toward Fuse from behind.
Unsurprisingly, Fuse was able to easily catch the spear without it detonating, but Cinder didn't give him any time to rest as more portals opened for streams of lava to shoot from.
Cinder heard Fuse yell in frustration as he had had enough and charged toward him, sending out flares that dispersed the lava enough for him to bust through.
Cinder thought he had enough time to react, but Fuse turned out to be faster than he was and managed to land a kick to the chest that sent Cinder hurtling through buildings.
Not wasting the opportunity, Fuse lifted a small tower and dropped it onto Cinder once he came to a stop.
Cinder used spirit enhancement on the entire building to prevent it from being destroyed in the collision as he raised his arms to catch it.
"Quit destroying my people's homes," he grunted as he lay on his back, struggling to push against Fuse's might.
Internally, he acknowledged Fuse's abilities. From what he could tell, Fuse's strength was comparable to his own, but Fuse's speed surpassed his. Not only that, but Fuse was just as powerful, if not more so, than a Spiritan Commander. Typically, that wouldn't be a problem since Cinder had his resonant blade, but so does Fuse.
The only area Cinder had Fuse beat was in elemental mastery. Cinder, being a zaster klevonian, gave him the edge of having two elements compared to Fuse only being a sage klevonian utilizing light. On top of that, Cinder's battle instincts were superior, and he could balance out the sheer volume of light Fuse could manifest from his energy, thanks to being near lava flow.
He grinned. He was ordered not to unleash his full strength for the sake of their surroundings, but he suddenly thought of the perfect place he could do that and wrap things up quickly without risking the town. The only issue was that he was currently still in town, so how could...
He suddenly received a telepathic update from Fulvia.
I'm rescinding my order. Now that everyone's evacuated this area, I've finished placing a wall of reality-illusion rupture prisms around the perimeter. They should help keep too much energy from leaking into the rest of the sector. Do what you need to. We'll worry about rebuilding later.
Perfect timing, Cinder thought. He internally apologized to whoever lived in the home he was in as he combined the nature of his lightning and magma to create a super-heated element that far surpassed either. Everything around him started to be eviscerated as he quickly dashed straight through the building on top of him.
****
Fuse jerked forward as he felt the sudden lack of resistance beneath the building he pushed against. In that moment, Cinder appeared, crashing through his end, appearing changed. He didn't give off magma or lightning. Instead, he gave off an aura of a transparent haze with tremendous heat that acted abnormally.
The hole Cinder put in the building wasn't created with brute force, but was disintegrated to nothing but burned scorch marks.
"So this is your famed plasma mode," Fuse raised his spirit arm in defense as Cinder struck hard. He tried to get some distance to analyze the situation, but Cinder remained on the offensive, not leaving him much time to do anything. He tried to blast Cinder with light, but discovered that Cinder's plasma was absorbing the photons from his energy.
"F.A.I.S., run a diagnostic for countermeasures."
{Affirmative. The target's speed and abnormal heat will cause a brief delay for our sensors to run a diagnostic. You will have to stall for two minutes before the diagnostic completes.}
"Dammit," Fuse grunted. "Then, get started."
{Of course, sir.}
Fuse noticed that one of Cinder's red portals appeared behind him just as Cinder slammed into him, sending them both through it. To Fuse's surprise, the portal spat them out somewhere high in the sky above Mount Forge.
"What's the meaning of this?" Fuse asked, gaining his balance in flight.
"Now I don't have to worry about collateral damage," Cinder responded.
Below them, Oat was squatting on one of the top edges of the volcano, overlooking things. When he sensed them above him, he looked up and waved.
"'Sup, Cinder? Man, you've got a mess to clean here," he laughed, then looked at Fuse as Cinder grabbed him and began to drive them into the volcano.
"Hey, is that you, Fuse? It's been a while, dude! You're a terrorist now?" Fuse heard Oat say as he and Cinder plummeted past him.
Fuse set off laser bursts to get Cinder off him in time to avoid falling into the lava. The two of them floated above the boiling pit as Fuse slowly drifted backwards away from Cinder.
Then he attacked, hoping to get the initiative this time, but it was useless. Cinder was too strong there. The lava responded to him naturally, moving in tides to try to swallow Fuse, forcing him on the defensive as he dodged. Random lightning strikes fell from the volcanic clouds over the region, making it even harder to avoid taking damage.
All the while, his suit was starting to overheat. He was actually perspiring underneath it.
Fuse was too much at a disadvantage there. He could probably flee and make it out of the volcano if he tried hard enough, but Cinder would just bring him back with those portals. He needed to find a way to get Cinder to take them out of the volcano and keep them out.
Quick-witted as he was, Fuse thought of the perfect solution.
"F.A.I.S., deploy Canisters 73 and 74 to my location."
{Incoming, sir. Camouflage is implemented to avoid interception.}
"Good, your intuitive algorithms work in the heat of the moment. I would've had to reprogram you had you missed that."
Dammit. Fuse had completely forgotten about Oat, who'd undoubtedly shoot them out of the sky before they could arrive. The rising pressure of not being baked alive had caused an oversight — one that he would never admit to F.A.I.S.
Moments later, two large contraptions crashed into the lava.
"What is this?" Cinder said before willing the lava to encase the canisters.
Before they could sink and be destroyed completely, Fuse yelled, "Detonate now!"
There was a sudden release of supercooled air within the volcano that instantly froze the upper half of the inner part, as well as created a solid floor of obsidian.
"Whoa! He froze the Forge!" Oat marveled. "But not all of it, just the surface, luckily."
"So this was your plan? To get me to lead you inside the volcano to sabotage the heart of our nation..." Cinder stepped toward Fuse, infused. Each step melted the obsidian below his feet, allowing magma to slowly pool out.
"You almost succeeded, but you fail to understand why I'm the protector of this sector," Cinder said, as the volcano shook and the ice quickly began to melt. "My presence strengthens The Forge. Invigorates it. So long as I exist, Forgeton's heart will never stop beating."
With that, the obsidian began to crack severely as Fuse realized what was about to happen. He shot skyward, hoping he could make it clear before the eruption, then saw Oat looking down and realized he was trapped.
"Fine. If I'm going, I'm taking your precious Forge with me. F.A.I.S., Deploy Canisters..." he began, but was interrupted as the volcano erupted before he could make it out. In the next instant, he and Cinder were in the sky outside the erupting volcano.
Fuse breathed heavily, taking in the relatively cooler air as he wiped the sweat from his face. He noticed his suit had begun to melt and break apart in areas. He was glad that the bluff worked. He didn't have any more supercooled canisters or anything that would've destroyed the massive volcano. Truth be told, the Canisters 73 and 74 were meant to serve as frost forges for some of his tech, but the situation called for some improvisation.
"I see you were hoping to overwhelm me in there," Fuse boasted as he willed his suit to repair itself and his helmet to rematerialize. "Guess that pile of infernal rock is more important than defeating the enemy."
"I wanted to finish this quickly. It would've been less painful for you," Cinder said as he threw his hammer.
Cinder dodged it easily, but the hammer went through one of Cinder's portals and emerged from his blindside. Luckily, F.A.I.S. warned him in time for him to dodge again, but the process continued. Cinder's attack was relentless as it kept Fuse focused on evasion instead of offense.
"He's trying to tire me out," Fuse said to himself.
{You are moving near your max speed, sir. If this continues, he will succeed, and you and all the sensitive information you hold will be at the mercy of the Klevonian Army.}
"Then find me a path out of here. I'm faster than him. Show me the path I'd incur the least amount of damage while moving at max speed."
Fuse's visors revealed a nearly impossible path between the continuous strikes. He immediately burst toward it full speed, twisting and dodging when necessary as he successfully reached Cinder.
He'd hoped he'd be able to quickly dice Cinder into chunks to end things there, but Cinder's hammer was right behind Fuse, forcing him to turn at the last second and defend against it. The hammer collided with the shaft of his spear, sending him flipping backwards until he righted himself.
But, Fuse wasn't done. He went back on the offensive before Cinder could get the opportunity again. Cinder met him with a swing of his own.
Fuse and Cinder clashed multiple times as they both tried to land a fatal blow to one another with their spirit arm. The point of Fuse's spear versus the blunt force of Cinder's hammer. The clashes of their spirit arms generated miniature CME explosions in the sky. No, from the looks of it, Fuse deduced the explosions were closer to miniature Coulombic explosions.
Part of him was excited and fascinated by the phenomenon. He wished he could study the reaction between his and Cinder's power further, but he focused on the fight at hand.
After a quick succession of masterfully utilizing his flick spear, Fuse finally managed to land a critical slash across Cinder's chest just as Cinder hit him so hard with his hammer that it shattered part of Fuse's suit and crushed some of his ribs.
Fuse dismissed his helmet and spat up blood before tossing his broken classes. He'd be able to mend the suit, but his wounds didn't heal with it. He needed to find a way to put Cinder down.
"To think that one of the great minds of Cindar is struggling against this brute," he said, frustrated.
{Analysis complete, sir. There are two effective ways to counter the enemy in your current position: Laser-induced plasma filamentation or weaken the kinetic energy of the hammer by forcing it to break through a multi-barrier of dense photons.}
"The multi-barrier option is impossible. Generating that many solid barriers of energy is too much even for a genius like me."
{I know, sir.}
"Then quit giving me useless suggestions. I didn't program you with sarcasm."
{You programmed me to adapt and act intuitively, sir.}
Fuse gritted his teeth, suppressing his rising aggravation.
"We're going with filamentation. A dense enough stream of my spirit energy ought to keep that damn hammer away from me."
Fuse put his arms together with his palms facing outward and willed his suit to shape the components of the arm pieces into a single cannon with a large propulsor at the firing end. Cinder was still shaken by the attack, not being able to regenerate that wound as fast as he'd like. Fuse enjoyed seeing the orange-red ichor flow from it.
This was it. The only moment he'd get. Fuse charged most of his energy into his suit, focusing an intense beam of photons directly at Cinder. He hid his spirit arm just behind the tip of the blast, hoping Cinder's confidence as a zaster klevonian would cause him to take the blast head-on, only to be inflicted with even more damage.
Fuse suppressed the urge to laugh with victory in mind.
To his surprise, Cinder instead chose to throw his hammer with full strength, forcing their attacks to clash in a continuous stalemate.
Fuse had to keep up the outpour of his energy; otherwise, that hammer would crash into him before he could move.
"Fine. I'll put everything into it," he grunted as he pushed hard, letting all but a small fraction of his energy burst from his cannon in a stunning display of power.
To his horror, Cinder's hammer still began to edge closer despite the torrent of energy Fuse was releasing.
{Sir. I do not think this is effective.}
"Shut up, I know. He's absorbing the natural plasma from the lava and lightning around him to fuel the energy in his hammer. He's more dangerous than I gave him credit for..."
Fuse noticed that his armor was starting to overheat. Due to him focusing his energy on the skirmish, other passive mechanisms in his suit, such as the temperature shields, were fried now.
"Dammit. What's the chance of me winning if I deploy Canisters 111 and 112?"
{You will not overcome his plasma, but he will not overcome you either. However, the resulting backlash could be catastrophic. You both could die.}
"It's better than me losing here. Deploy them."
Two more canisters were deployed to his location, but they were different from the previous ones. Each was filled with photon bombs that Fuse had stored away. He manipulated the energy from them to flow into his cannon as an additional power source. This caused the cannon's output to increase drastically, forcing Cinder's hammer to a complete stop.
The two of them were stuck in deadlock as neither let up. For now. It was a battle of attrition that Fuse knew he'd lose eventually. Cinder could continuously absorb the energy from the lava and lightning around them to fuel the plasma output of his hammer, but this was Fuse's final play. Once he ran out of energy, it would be over for him, so he needed to ensure he at least put Cinder out of commission, too.
Fuse kept the pressure going.
"Come on, come on, come on," he muttered as the reaction he was looking for finally occurred. The pressure from their clash of energy formed another Coulombic expansion that erupted into an even bigger explosion than any of the previous ones. It was powerful enough to light up the sky as Fuse felt an impossibly heavy force knock into him, sending a flare of indescribable pain through him until all he saw was black.
When he came to, he'd apparently crashed back into the ground. He could make out Cinder's large figure somewhere to his left, already starting to stand, but he had to use his hammer for support, and he'd fallen from his plasma state.
"I've never had my plasma offset like that before. It feels different to fight a genius," Cinder coughed up more of his range-red ichor.
Damn that tough bastard, Cinder groaned internally as he slowly got to his feet. His suit was steaming and mostly melted now. He couldn't fly with his suit anymore, and his energy was so low that his transformation was near collapse. If he tried to use Assimilate to repair the suit, he'd lose the transformation and be at a huge disadvantage.
He looked at Cinder. Both of them were bleeding badly. Cinder's major wounds would take a while to recover from, thanks to Fuse's spirit arm and the destructive energy from that explosion. The fact that he hadn't regenerated the minor wounds yet told Fuse that he was preserving his energy still.
He looked down at himself, disgusted by the state he was in. His zenith mark and spirit arm should've made him at least strong enough to match the Ryfa Pakt. Yet he was struggling with the number three of the Klevonian Army.
"Didn't think a mere General would push me this far..."
{They are zaster klevonians, sir. Essentially, pneumarians with the ability to wield spirit arms. Imagine if they possessed the same volume of power a pneumarian does...}
Fuse gritted his teeth again at the thought. He glanced at Felix, who stood facing Fulvia. Even if he did manage to defeat Cinder, he'd be in no condition to help fight the Ryfa Pakt.
Just need to hold out a little longer, he told himself as he lunged at Cinder to keep him from reactivating his plasma.
****
Fulvia observed the battle between Cinder and Fuse closely while also staying aware of Felix. Once Felix moved to land before her as the flaps of her wings generated strong winds, Fulvia gave the klevonian her undivided attention. Fulvia noticed Felix's clothes had changed. She must've used her zip-wear to change clothes. Based on the clothing, Fulvia guessed Felix was recruited from Pneuma City's Graboid Crest long ago. It looked like Felix had quite let go of her past.
Felix confidently strutted toward Fulvia as she finished her lollipop and tossed the stick aside.
"Doesn't seeing them go at it like that get your klevonian blood pumping? Guess we should be getting started now, too, then..."she said threateningly.
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Earthly Ties Saga Layout:
The Primordials: Death's Fury (Volume 01 - Chapters 1-30)
The Primordials: A Joyless Joy & Life (Volume 02 - Chapters 31-50)
The Primordials: Lustless Prides (Volume 03 - Chapters 51-78)
The Primordials: Retribution (Volume 04 - Chapters 79-110)
Legacies Saga Layout:
The Primordials: New World (Volume 05 - Chapters 111-165)
The Primordials: Transcended (Volume 06 - Chapters ???-???)
The Primordials: Culling War (Volume 07 - Chapters ???-???)
The Primordials: Secret Vendetta (Volume 08- Chapters ???-???)
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