Chương 42: R&R Ch. 42 — Hold the Line

All Nicholas had to do was hold up a construct held together and sustained by his will in the face of forces far greater than him. Brightside, was that Jasmine's barrier fitted together with his without a problem, the two of them sustaining one another in a way that made sure that both were stronger than the sum of their parts. Downside, nobody else had a barrier that slotted together with theirs, so it was just another barrier to the pile at best and actively trying to cancel out his own working at worst.

But that had been part of the reason he had phrased the command as he had; it wasn't just sustained by his ability but his will as he poured his existence into it. The first shockwaves of their battle slammed into the barrier, and it was akin to nails on a chalkboard. It wasn't painful per se, but it was irritating and was going to test his will. Everything was going to test his will, so maybe that was just Nicholas complaining.

"Everybody, the barrier is up so you know the drill. Those of us with manipulations are going to be blocking attacks and monsters we can, and those that don't you're holding the holes." Twister said, having taken command of the situation. Neither Nicholas nor Jasmine could speak much, but this was an eventuality they had planned for. A tornado spun into existence outside their barrier, pulling Beyonders away from the wall so there was one less thing slamming against Nicholas's soul.

"Was it this bad when we did this at the academy?" Jasmine thought to him their own telepathic headbands much easier to use than actually talking.

"It was worse, but I doubt that's going to stay."

"Ouch, how long did they say they would be going for?"

"Four hours minimum expected time according to LongShot." Nicholas set his feet as he continued to let his power flow like a river. He couldn't make a shield that would never break, but one that could constantly recover was something he could do. He had poured hours into figuring out how he wanted the barrier to work, and he would not falter now. And if things got really bad, both he and Jasmine could apply the distortion techniques to their workings and juice up the barrier by several degrees.

It would just require them to break apart more of their existence if they did it wrong again. Nicholas would just make sure that he didn't have a chance of doing it wrong. Jasmine was breathing slowly as she continued to channel power into her shield. Her barrier was nothing like Nicholas's in that it was a constant river of power. She activated it and it would run until it ran out of power, so she had to periodically refill the reserves.

She wouldn't be able to handle four hours normally, but she had made preparations for such an event, especially for her barrier armor.

Twister could only marvel at the power Retort and Retribution managed. Other people on the barrier team had taken periodic breaks, but those two stood resolute even as the world tried to destroy their barrier, the silver and gold flight flickering. It was hard for her to control her twister when there was a barrier between them, but she didn't have any illusions that she could survive being outside the barrier as the shockwaves rocked the city, each one causing the barriers to turn opaque.

So instead she focused on what she could do, which was making a twister and throwing the enemies back to buy her team more time. Her idea of being a hero had been changing over the past few days, and she couldn't help but picture her leaders now. Even now they stood resolute against forces greater than themselves. Twister wasn't ready to just give up anymore and settle for being middle of the pack. She could do more; her power was growing. She was growing.

Her will was becoming sharper as she honed in on her goal and imbued her own dreams into what she wanted to accomplish. Every gale of wind was a letter to the world that she wanted to make it better. Something twinged inside her as she pumped more power into the twister and her control sharpened. Instead of being over a hundred feet away and a barrier of force between them, it was as if she was inside it.

On a whim, spears of air shot out, spearing various Beyonders to the ground to stall their advance as the twister picked them up moments later to throw them into the horde. She was in two places at once. One of her was standing on the wall, the picture of a hero, blood streaming down her face. And there was the second her, embodied by the air she manipulated in the Twister that gave her the name. They were one, and yet they were two.

Twister rampaged across the battlefield even as her flesh fell apart from the strain. Her commanders were doing the same; the blood falling from Nicholas's eyes even as he fell to one knee from a powerful attack. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators! If they were going to go that hard, then she was going to do the same.

A leader who walked through fire so that their men didn't have to was someone that Twister would walk through fire for, to stand beside them.

"I got you, Twist," Triage said to her flesh self as he pushed healing energy into her, filling her body with power.

"Check on Retort and Retribution, they need it more," Twister said as soon as she figured out how to speak again, it was easy to be two when only one half had to do anything but to direct her twister and communicate had proved to be difficult for the moment.

"Can't get close to them so much power is radiating off of them that anyone below E is going to get injured from it, but Retribution's healer thing is working on them." Triage explained. Twister didn't like that answer, but she had more pressing things. A small squadron was forming up and preparing to assault their wall. They were just waiting for something, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what they would be aiming for.

"Strikers," Twister said in her best leader voice. Ostensibly with Pierce here that should have been his job, but he had said she should remain in charge cause unlike himself she could affect things outside the barrier.

"Form up on me. We're going to attack that force before they decide they're done waiting." The series of affirmatives was exhilarating, and Twister pushed even more power into her second self. The twister spun faster as blades of howling wind bombarded her opponents, even as she drove her power forward. There wouldn't be enough of these forces left for them to even think about attacking the barrier that was holding the world at bay.

Jasmine had lost the ability to process pounds ages ago; she could barely make out what was coming through their telepathic headbands, but that was an effort in futility to get anything more than base impressions. Her entire existence had become holding the wall as firm as possible. She could not fall. She would not fall. It was hard to tell where she ended and Nicholas began in this space, where their combined wills had to hold the world back, but that didn't bother her.

It was nice to be completely united in purpose, and it made her wonder if that would make the soul-forged items better or worse if they made them. They were united in their goals even if they walked different paths that couldn't be so bad, could it? A spear of energy shattered her barrier and a panel of Nicholas's as it landed between them, sending the two flying to the side.

Nicholas screamed as he reformed the broken panel of his many-layered barrier and held back the world all on his own power, flowing off of him in endless waves as he commanded reality to follow the rules he had given it. She wanted to rest. To sleep. To give up. Fighting was easy; there were lulls and she could rely on the others. That wasn't possible here; it all fell on her. Four hours was enough, wasn't it? Jasmine slapped herself, the sound echoing through the air as she forced herself to her feet again.

She could not falter. She was Jasmine. She was Retribution. She would prove to everyone that there was a reason she could walk the path to the end, and it wouldn't be because of something her family had given her.

"We are still standing!" Jasmine bellowed to the world, echoing the words that had started the barrier a few hours ago. Feet set, she braced her shield and poured energy into it as the working spun the barrier, forming and slotting into the spots Nicholas had left for it as if they were always meant to be joined this way. A portion of the shield hissed as the compartment opened, the soul battery pouring into the barrier to sustain it and augment it even further.

The interwoven nature of their barriers played to their advantage, as not even her own ability and absolute authority over her soul could figure out where one barrier began and the other ended. Gold and silver pulsed through the air, shouting in defiance at the storm around them as reality tried to break. There were sections of the city getting destroyed by attacks cast off from the higher-level battlefield. They couldn't worry about them.

In this storm they could only make one shelter, and it would be one crafted in resplendent silver and radiant gold.

Jules huddled with his family in the bunker. The wave was terrifying, and today was a particularly bad day. For three days the supers had been fighting without stop, and they were finally desperate enough to take the fight to the enemy, but Jules couldn't help but feel like that was the wrong decision. The sound of the world shattering again and again as they tried to fight against the enemy was more than he could handle.

That and the fact that inside the bunker wasn't any safer than being outside if the heroes lost then it didn't matter if they were in the bunkers or not even if they had supers here. Everyone knew that the supers on the walls were the strong ones. His mom said that if you wanted the heroes to be strong, you should pray for them, giving them the faith that they will protect you so that they can push beyond the limitations they have and make the world a better place.

But Jules didn't even know who he was supposed to be praying towards; they hadn't seen any information about any of the heroes that were protecting them. How was he supposed to know which ones were saving him and which ones were saving someone else if he didn't know them?

"Let's go outside for a bit," his mom said, steering his little sister outside. Jules was afraid to go, but more afraid to stay, and he had to be a good big brother and show Lex it was okay to go outside and play, even when it was scary because the heroes were going to protect them. As they stepped outside of the bunker to go to the play area, Jules and Lex stared up at the sky, marveling. The sky was gone. Instead, above them was a gold and silver sky, the power of the supers protecting them.

Occasionally it flashed white, but just seeing it made him glad that there was a hero protecting them. He pushed his sister on the swing when the barrier shattered with the sound of thunder, crying, and the very fabric of the universe being pushed apart. The silver flickered but held, and the gold was gone. Lex began to cry as Jules grabbed his sister. He wasn't sure what he could do to protect her, but he was going to do his best.

Somehow, through the sound of the world breaking, Jules could swear he could hear two voices screaming in defiance. Jules added his own voice to it. He didn't know their names, but the heroes of silver and gold were doing everything they could to protect him and his sister. He couldn't ignore that.

"You can do it!" Jules shouted, cheering on the supers even if they couldn't hear them. Lex screamed too, whether in fear or to support the heroes, Jules didn't know. More voices joined everyone outside, cheering on the heroes. The silver shone brighter. The gold barrier returned to join its peer, the two becoming one. And the barrier shone like the sun, gentle and protecting. Everyone cheered for their heroes.