Chương 44: R&R Ch. 44 — Betrayal

Nicholas felt gross even as he flew into position. With Jasmine fighting at range, he would be the one drawing the attention of the monsters. He was excited it would be a battle between him working outside his specialty and his own preparations. Namely, hiding behind his barriers like a coward and flying around until everything was in position. The enemy's still preparing, so it was only polite that they responded in kind. Retort and Retribution played for keeps.

Especially now that they'd promised their forces that all of them would make it out alive. Nicholas still found the promise asinine. It's a toss-up which irritated him more. Nicholas had gained powers because he knew he could make things better. And all of his supposed peers dared to act surprised. They were supers too. What made them so different? Nicholas had half a mind to turn his power on them. Maybe at that point they would figure out their own dreams. It also made him wonder which was the path to the end.

He knew he was the oddity. He had done it all on his own; Nicholas had punched through the barrier from regular human to super human. Just his own ego and brain. Nicholas shook his head. Those thoughts weren't his own, echoes of the will and power he had subsumed to recover his energy fully. It was disgusting.

"You okay?"

"What?"

"You're spinning in the air, glaring at people, and your hands are shaking. I just wanted to make sure that you're okay." Jasmine reiterated.

"I don't know if I am," Nicholas whispered.

"What's going on?"

"The side effect. It was more poignant than expected." Nicholas marveled at Jasmine's ability to send sound effects through their telepathic bands. It was impressive. Nicholas tilted his head to the side, listening to his senses. He could feel something pressing at the edge of his awareness.

"Three minutes?"

"Two minutes," Jasmine disagreed.

"Fair."

"You want to go with the big combo?" Nicholas asked as he rifled through his catalogue for an appropriate opening word.

"You sure?"

"Definitely." His plan fully formulated, Nicholas closed his eyes, pushing down the warring wills in his soul. This was his domain, and he would not let something as simple as the dead desires of supers try to usurp him.

"I'll let you know when take your time," Jasmine assured him. Nicholas imagined a simple fist. Unlike impact, that was a force modifier, break was both more and less at the same time. Break was a fist that shattered the stars and anything else that would get close to it. If needed, it would even break space. The combo attack was simple. Break the defenses. Jasmine shoots her strongest bullet. Use Impact to turn it into a transcendent attack.

After the event with the C level Beyonder, he needed to figure out a way to break through the monsters, even if it was just him and Jasmine. He hoped this would be the solution. Jasmine called when the monsters started advancing, and he began his own internal countdown as the monsters closed the distance. Five. Four. Three. The D-rank blurred out of existence, reappearing in front of the wall, fist raised to brain one of his teammates." Gate" Nicholas begged the world.

Thankfully, with his power, the world obeyed such pleading. Nicholas stepped through the gate and into the fist's path as the Beyonder tried to crush him." Reinforce""Retort!" Jasmine cried as he forced the rings on his fingers to burn with silver and gold light, forming a protective barrier around him as the fist collided. Nicholas had enjoyed skipping stones when his family had gone to the lake before. He did not nearly so much enjoy spiking across the city like a stone from all those years ago.

When he came to, he was upside down, embedded in a wall and with Jasmine screaming in his head.

"I'm fine, going to get back really quickly," Nicholas said, forcing his will together. That had hurt. It was once again time to use something he really didn't want to, but he didn't have time to fly back even if he had the flying sword. He just hoped it wouldn't corrupt things too much.

"Well, I definitely need your help, cause this is not going well," Jasmine squeaked." Gate" A panel in space distorted as a door slid open. Nicholas practically fell through it, falling back onto the wall. As fast as he could, he adjusted to the battlefield; all of their peers were fighting the enemy Beyonders that had gotten way closer to the wall than they should have. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The ape being able to teleport explained that.

As did Jasmine and the ape fighting on top of the wall and flying through the air, both of them weaving through space. The leather duster wasn't built to react to every attack; it could dodge an attack every once in a while, to flicker through space.

"Hey asshole! Over here!" Space shattered as the Rank Four Beyonder appeared before him. All turned around where Jasmine had been. Nicholas's leg flashed out, slamming into the ankle of the titan." Impact" Chiton shattered as Nicholas called his sword, leaping on and making come at me gestures as he wove through the sky. The Beyonder was now heavily favoring the uninsured leg. Downside, it could still warp space.

He couldn't warp space fast enough with any of his workings; that wasn't what he could do with his skill set. He couldn't hide behind barriers either, because the multiplicative effect with the rings wasn't available after that first attack; they were both empty. Think. There had to be an option." Playroom" Nicholas could feel it when space flexed around him. Stone forged around Nicholas even as he flew backwards fast as the sword could handle.

Slowly, he pulled his opponent back onto the battlefield and off the wall. Unfortunately, the dance took two people; the space-manipulating ape wanted to be near the wall. Nicholas pulled the ape off the wall. Just not to the full battlefield. It would be enough. He really preferred standing still and using the playroom to bombard his opponents. Nicholas didn't have that option. The sword wasn't fast enough either, so he discarded it, not wanting the tool to break.

Puppeteering himself and the battlefield, Nicholas clashed with the spatial manipulator as his partner continued to rain hellfire down on him. Space distorted and Nicholas pivoted, dodging the eventual attack while spires of stone crashed into the ape as it appeared, the beast releasing a roar that caused Nicholas's ears to ring.

"Yeah, you overgrown chimpanzee, I'm right here," Nicholas called, flipping over an attack. The ape roared. A concentrated blast of air raced down the monkey's throat before rapidly expanding the moment it was out of Nicholas's control. Everything was in harmony, and for a moment Nicholas could feel himself pushing against the edge of what he was capable of. To reach farther. Nicholas grabbed it with both hands. A hand whipped through the air."

Break" All along the Beyonder's body, chiton broke, giving Jasmine free rein to attack the much softer flesh." Playroom" The biggest problem with the playroom was not having the tools he needed to fight a rank four beast; there was just nothing he could use to fight it. The rank five stones they had for the wall were too important to use elsewhere. Shattered chiton he could use as floating knives? Nicholas couldn't write it better himself. Puppeteer himself for mobility.

Stones for defense to block the warp punches. And the very own armor of the monster to be used to spear the flesh. All while giving Jasmine the chance to line up all of her shots and making sure that none of their teammates were at risk of getting injured. As the chiton blades ravaged the ape with small lacerations, it swung a powerful fist, vanishing once again with its spatial magic. Nicholas reacted instantly, launching himself into the air to dodge the attack. An attack that never came. More and less than that.

The attack came. The ape swung his fist through space, but he had missed. For the first time, the ape missed, and Nicholas knew why. The chiton embedded in its flank, still rippled with its own spatial ability. All of them did. He could use that.

"Next shot is a big one. Hold it down for two seconds and I will take out an eye," Jasmine relayed. Nicholas balked at the order. How was he supposed to stop this thing long enough for Jasmine to hit it in the eye?

"On it," Nicholas said through gritted teeth. There was a pattern to when the ape attacked; he would start there. Nicholas continued to dodge as he observed his opponent. No, he did more than that; he studied it. Stone walls blocked the fist that swung for him, and Nicholas activated his trap. Shackles of stone grabbed the ape, forming around the walls it had punched through just a moment ago, even as the ape's old armor ravaged its skin, their own spatial distorting properties causing the world to tremble.

Nicholas's authority was weak in the best situation, but this was his playroom, the strongest skill he had. This was his land he was ordered to defend by the precognatives the ones that saw his own victory or defeat and had sent them here. And the scales he used to distort space were his spoils of war that nobody else could claim, for it was his attack that shattered them. For the first time, Nicholas slammed his will against his opponent, forcing him to stay instead of teleport.

And for the first time, the ape failed to move through space. A star formed in the monster's eye as Jasmine's shot slammed into place, the light burning Nicholas's vision. Nicholas may have been fighting without his sight, but he was far from blind. This was his playroom, and he knew where things were. Spires of stone tipped with the spacial rending chiton speared towards the ape; he imagined the roars of pain were continuing.

But between Jasmine firing a sun at the beast and its own roars of pain, Nicholas couldn't hear either, and he wasn't sure this was the kind of thing his healing worked on. He would have to let Jasmine take care of it. Even blind physically and with rage, the ape was still rank four, and that was no easy opponent for them to handle.

Restraints were made and destroyed at the same pace even as more spears of stone crashed into the monster, Jasmine's gunshots raining down as she pulled out the hand grenades to continue the bombardment. Explosives Nicholas was more than happy to steer to the optimal positions even while juggling everything else. They were winning; it was possible for them to keep going. Nicholas roared in defiance as he slammed into himself with his power, launching him away from the attack even as he controlled everything else.

This was his battlefield, and he would not be stopped. It was all under his control. Something, or more accurately someone, entered his space behind him, someone holding a spear shaped object. That made him pause. Lupine was supposed to be in the front dealing with the wave; why was he here? That distraction cost him. Nicholas hadn't even realized his leg was missing till a second later and then the pain hit." Numb" Nicholas shrieked as his room collapsed, and the pain faded.

He had poured everything into that one on nothing more than instinct; it would last a while, and for that time the pain was gone. Nicholas began working his spirit through the technique he had learned. With his power empty, it was easy to flow the belief people had in him into shape and let it course through him like a river. Nicholas channeled his power, focusing it. He needed to see what was going on so he could plan as he prepared his next working.

Just his eyes, his vision was already recovering from the spots; it just needed to go faster." Recover"" Playroom" Nicholas took in the sights as his playroom settled over the battlefield; it was damn near the perfect technique for the belief distortion he was using. Constant power was needed to run it, not a big burst, and that's what Nicholas had right now, constant flowing power for as long as he could keep his focus. Which would probably be until his numbing power ran out and the pain hit.

The sight chilled him. Jasmine screaming something he couldn't hear, superimposing herself between him and the Beyonder. The Beyonder stalked forward, space cracking around it with every step as it snarled in rage, sniffing the air to find them. And Lupine's spear raised to attack the ground. Why was he doing that? Nicholas realized where he was too late. He shoved with his power, but the spear broke the ground, shattering the cap he had placed there.

Purple mist spilled as one-sixth of the corpses their team had killed across the wave were revealed. The attention of something far greater than anything he felt before settled on all of them.