Chương 40: R&R Ch. 40 — In their Favor

Jasmine put all of her power into hitting the enemy as hard as she could. Fighting up one tier was hard, but she could usually do it, especially with Nicholas at her side. Fighting up two? She hadn't done it before, but if their team was at full power; she was pretty sure that she could manage it somehow if she had to. But three? It was taking everything she had to tickle the monster. It had required the entire boost Nicholas had given her to be part of the attack that broke the tusk.

But all she could do was try to break it, and trust Nicholas to keep her safe. Her best friend pulled her out of the way of an attack as she focused on forging more power. Each hit was increasing the weight of the monster just a little bit, but it was adding up between the terrain breaks from their battle, and the weight increase it was beginning to work.

"Now!" Voodoo screamed. Jasmine and everyone else were pulled away as they let her do her thing. Red and black light swirled around the monster before it formed into knives skewering the eyes and making the monster scream. It burned at Jasmine that she couldn't do the same thing another rank two was doing but the situation was different and Voodoo would be out of the fight till her eyes healed and her power recovered. For her to break through three ranks of defenses, it was going to be a while.

"Sparky!" Jasmine called, as the electrokinetic would be the first to act again outside of Toxin, Pierce, and Nicholas who had never stopped their bombardments. Blue lightning swirled as a new sword formed out of lightning, this one nearly ten feet long and over a foot wide. It was comical. But it had power so Jasmine wasn't going to judge. Her breathing twisted as she went through the forms of the karma technique she had gotten.

It was a coin toss if it would work or not, but the chips were down and she was here to play. The almost liquid power flowed from her, to her soul, into her weapons, and finally into the powers they wield.

"Give me an opening," Sparky yelled as he poured more power into his attack. Jasmine could do that, she could make an opening. With her karma imbued and assimilated to the best of her ability, she activated the enchantments she had hammered into the monster. At base they made them heavier. When activated, it got even stronger. And with the power and weight of all the lives she had saved as a hero adding to the power even more? The rank five Beyonder tripped falling to one knee even as it struggled to stand.

Jasmine burned her power for all it was worth at a rate almost equal to what Nicholas did. Blood streamed from her eyes and her pores as she forced the world of someone her superior in every way to bend to her will.

"Fall." Alone it wasn't enough, but Jasmine didn't fight alone. An arrow the size of a bus slammed into the knee of the Beyonder, pushing it farther into the ground while the sun itself released rays of holy light to burn the enemy. Bindings of earth reached up to consume more of the monster's flesh as the toxic mist invaded the monster's lungs further, trying to reach the organs she had yet to assault. Sparky brought his blade down with all the force he could muster.

It crashed against the skull of the Beyonder and stopped its power not yet enough to cleave through flesh." Impact" The sword shone with a silver light Jasmine recognized, and its downward descent continued cutting into the head of the titan.

"Is it dead?" Toxin rasped. Jasmine instantly sent her hammer spinning through the air to slam into the Beyonder several times in case the jinx worked and it had some kind of recovery ability. The beast hadn't used one the whole fight, so it was probably just a physical juggernaut but she had seen it happen before in videos." Analyze" Nicholas's next command came out more like a whisper.

"Dead, but we need to get the wall up now."" Playroom" Jasmine was getting really concerned because that one sounded more like a whimper, and Nicholas didn't run out of power. His first method of cycling power made it pound for pound more powerful than anyone else at their tier and his second made it so he regenerated it at an astounding rate. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Jasmine was about to ask when it hit her.

Her armor screamed in pain, and her soul cracked into multiple pieces as she sagged to the ground. It was a type of soul damage she wasn't used to. Normally she cut off pieces and let them grow back. This had twisted her soul around until it broke and reforged with pieces in the wrong spots.

"You good?" Comet asked, helping Jasmine back to her feet.

"Yeah, fine," Jasmine said, lying through her teeth as she let her power connect to her armor again. It hurt, but she could do it, the consequence of using techniques beyond her to break an opponent beyond her was catching up. It would take her months to heal her soul normally from an injury like this. But it wouldn't actually stop her from doing any of her job it would just feel like putting her soul through needles which was fine she could manage.

She used her power sparingly as the six of them fought off the enemies to let Nicholas and the rest of the builders return the wall to normal.

"Alright team Sparky, Toxin, go back to your posts you guys did great, the rest of us are going to help clear out the area then we can return to our regular schedules," Jasmine said taking command. She couldn't say everyone was as perky as they had been heading out, but they all moved so they could begin cleaning everything up.

"You good?" Nicholas thought to her.

"I heard the scream."

"Did I actually scream?" Jasmine asked wincing, she had thought she had just collapsed.

"Mentally." Oh yeah. Jasmine sometimes hated the telepathic headbands, but they were just so useful, especially for Nicholas who had to save his words often.

"Soul cracked and mended wrong, it's nothing to worry about, really," Jasmine said, hoping her friend wouldn't be smart enough to figure it out.

"Besides the fact you use it for all of your weapons?"

"Yeah, besides that."

"Well, we'll handle it. Are you actually going to be okay for the wave?" Nicholas asked as they set upon a group of rank threes dispatching them easily.

"Oh yeah, I'll be perfectly fine, though it might mean I do some crafting, easier to just cut out the messed up parts and let me heal them that way," Jasmine admitted.

"Could you check out my soul when we get back? I don't feel connected properly after that last attack." Nicholas said quietly as they flew to their next target.

"What was that attack?"

"I needed to throw everything behind it, I didn't have everything to throw, so I used the technique Rend gave me." Nicholas shrugged as if that was perfectly normal.

"I thought you had only moved onto the medium exercises?"

"Yeah." Jasmine was trying really hard not to be concerned, but it wasn't working, though she could tell it went both ways. Voodoo had a super niche ability, so it made it way easier to punch up. But they didn't have that. To do what they did had a cost, and both were avoiding their own payment.

"I'll take a look when we get back but we have to clean this up right?" Jasmine said, giving her olive branch.

"The world isn't ready for Retort and Retribution." Nicholas said with a laugh.

Voodoo stabbed herself, and a wave of monsters fell even as her own flesh mended instantly. Her power was disgusting, and most days she hated it but right now? There was something powerful about being the only person besides Retort and Retribution to be rank two and be on the strike team. Her ability to deal with hordes of enemies endlessly and with big targets with a staggering amount of force made her feel strong. Though part of her wondered just how deep the well went for their leaders.

She hadn't been close to Retribution, and couldn't see but she had been fighting as an equal to the rank threes the whole time. As for Retort? During the fight he had released the tentative control he kept on his power so that he could fully cut loose and the waves of energy that boiled off of him was terrifying. She had thought she was one of the best at channeling major amounts of power in a single go but she didn't hold a candle to him.

That last command had shook the world, and she doubted they would have won without it. Even now with both of them holding onto just flickers of their normal power they were cutting through the remaining chaff inside the city with ease only she could match. It was terrifying to see just how far things could go even in their own tier; she had thought herself to be the top but could she actually take them out if she had to?

Voodoo was pretty sure she could take out Nicholas if she had to, he seemed to require his voice to use his power so as long as she caught him without him having a working he could control active, she could take out his voice and then him easily. She wasn't sure about Retribution. Her domain was mostly over the body but her power extended to souls too and there was something wrong about Jasmine's soul. Besides that, it looked like it had been shattered and glued back together in the wrong order.

There was something about her existence even before that had bothered Voodoo, it was just something too clean, maybe? Voodoo pushed the thought out of her head she didn't have time for this. She still wanted to get more sleep before her own shift and if they hadn't even made it a full day before their strike team had to act she didn't think she would be getting much of it.

Pierce pulled back his bow once again before releasing another bolt of energy at a Beyonder that had been heading towards Retort and Retribution. He hadn't cared one way or another on who was going to lead them but the duo had proven at every turn that they were people he wouldn't mind following behind. They gave everything they could to every moment and there was a magic to that he could respect. Even now their power flickering like candles, they fought with everything they could.

He didn't know if the others could perceive the weakness in their spirits they were exhibiting or not, but he would give them the illusion of strength that he could. In every possible way, he was going to do that. A strong leader needed strong support. And they had proven that they're going to be strong leaders. As the archer, and one of the oldest rank threes here, he would help them. He wasn't a rookie from weakness but lack of total missions done since he did hero work on the side most of the time to teaching.

And in those two he could still see that spark of joy his students had when they chased a goal. What teacher wouldn't want to nurture that light to the best of their ability? Three flying Beyonders were circling them once again, detecting the weakest sparks that would also give them the best meal with the least effort. Three more bolts of energy flew, taking down each of them.

"Thanks Pierce," Retort whispered, turning to him and giving him a wave.

"You're the best!" Retribution enthused, waving her hands with all her might.

"Of course someone has to watch both of y'alls back," Pierce said laughing. Was he being unsubtle or did they just notice? It was another hour till they finished killing off everything. Pierce could only hope the next disaster wouldn't take nearly so long for them to handle.