Chương 57: R&R Ch. 57 — Why Shouldn't I

Jasmine had more soul defenses built into her body and spirit than just about anyone who wasn't rank seven or higher, so Lupine's soul absorption attack had been more of a surprise than anything else; she hadn't been in actual danger. Her bigger problem had been the general surprise and the absolute desire for annihilation going through their bond as Nicholas stalked forward like a jungle cat towards Lupine." Break" The command shook the world as Nicholas pitted his will against Lupine and lost.

Instead of the limb shattering, the air did cutting into Lupine even as he healed with the power he had stolen from them. Jasmine finished levering herself to her feet. Nicholas wasn't going to be thinking right now, so she had to do something before he did something he regretted. She would not let him get hurt.

"You think you can just tell me to break? I'm the strongest! Not you two! So you'll listen to me!" Lupine screamed, a second spear forming in his other hand. His power was unveiled, and Jasmine could tell for certain now. F-rank as a super. Rank three as a Beyonder. Which put him somewhere above four or D, depending on your scale. That wasn't impossible for them to deal with, but it was more than she had been expecting.

"No, you're not." Nicholas said, raising a hand." Break" Space shattered as Lupine stumbled to the side, one of his spears twisting out of shape and shattering as it passed through the spatial break.

"And I'm not telling you what to do because we're the strongest."

"We're fighting because it's the right thing to do. We're superheroes." Jasmine said, putting Quicksilver back into its defensive mode. She had been foolish thinking that wasn't the reason she was holding on against someone she hadn't been able to gauge the strength of. She wouldn't make that mistake again. Lupine lunged, flames spinning around him as he charged towards Nicholas. Jasmine flew as fast as she could; she had defenses for this; he didn't. She wouldn't let him get hurt by something like that."

Break" Lupine stumbled as Nicholas once more pointlessly slammed his will into his opponent. Jasmine couldn't fathom why Nicholas was constantly trying something that didn't have a purpose. He wouldn't be able to do anything to Lupine unless he broke his opponent's will. Break was a word he used on things, not people." Impact" Jasmine roared as her hammer slammed into Lupine, blasting him back towards the wall and planting herself between the two.

"Retort, we're a team, remember? Just because I went down doesn't mean I'm out." Jasmine said, giving her friend a smile. It felt like he wasn't even listening; from their bond, she could feel his concentration, and it was fully on Lupine. And rage defined that focus. Jasmine would defend Nicholas because that was what she did. They were partners, and he was underneath her aegis.

But until he was calm again and they could talk about it, she wasn't going to push to end the fight; she didn't know if they could end the fight in the way she wanted. Their movements, will, and powers synced; they waded through the fire and the spears to stop the traitor.

"That damn teamwork of yours is so pesky! Are you really so weak that you can't fight an opponent on your own?" Lupine taunted, going to stab Nicholas." Shield" As the word started to resonate, Lupine blasted towards Jasmine on a jet of violet flame. The silver aegis formed around her like Nicholas had always expected that to be where the attack was coming.

"That's the difference. We work together because we're stronger together, not because we aren't strong on our own," Jasmine said, her hammer flying through the air, caution thrown to the wind because she knew. She knew Nicholas had her back for defense. Her hammer cracked into Lupine with enough force to shatter a building. Which wouldn't stop a rank three, and it certainly wouldn't stop one who specialized in regenerating power.

"I'm on offense, you're on defense, right?" Nicholas asked, already reading the general direction of her thoughts through their bond.

"Yeah, sorry."

"Don't be. I'm happy to have the help." Nicholas said, his voice still calm despite what she could feel. She couldn't tell if he was just pretending or if he was calmly thinking through the rage." Barrage" Jasmine put her all into defending. Every spear thrust and every flame blast she would block with her power and body if she had to. She was the one who could handle soul damage, so she was the one that was going to take it. More than that, she just had more to give from her power.

Nicholas was throwing commands like they were going out of style, from lifting Lupine up to drop him. To making him survive a storm of energy bullets. They wouldn't be able to actually make progress until they exhausted his reserves of power that let him regenerate. He was too strong for them to detain with the resources he had at his regular strength. They would need to batter him down till he had nothing left. And at that point. They could maybe capture him alive.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. That wasn't a proposition she loved. She wasn't even sure she could do it with Nicholas if they had been working at full strength. Which they didn't have because every time they got hit by a grazing blow, more of their strength flowed into Lupine.

"For someone who talks about the wonders of personal strength, do you think it's odd your power is being a leech?" Nicholas taunted.

"It doesn't matter where your power comes from so long as you're strong. And I'm strong enough to take mine," Lupine said, throwing the spear." Barrier"" Reinforce." Silver light threaded with gold blocked the spear, directing it toward the ground." Down" The spear changed direction, flying towards Lupine. The spear turned against its owner. Jasmine knew what she should have done. To infuse the spear with her force power to make the attack stronger. She couldn't.

Not when she didn't know what would happen if the vampire soul-burning spear attacked Lupine.

"You know I just had a fight with someone who had the exact same thought, and that teamwork didn't count. You guys should start a meeting group." Nicholas said dryly. She could feel Nicholas's attention flicker to her before going back to the fight. She would need to explain herself. Green energy spun out as she threw herself towards Lupine, battering him back and forcing force and gravity to fight against him at every turn." Playroom" Barriers formed, buying them time and space to actually talk.

"What are you thinking?" Nicholas asked, rasping.

"We should turn him over," Jasmine said as the fight slowed enough for them to talk. They could win. Probably. But unless Lupine surrendered, they wouldn't be able to detain him, so it would be best if they turned the situation over to people who knew what to do in a situation like this. If they couldn't detain him, there was only one option, and until they asked for help, nobody seemed inclined to step in.

"No, I'm not going to run away, not from this," Nicholas said simply.

"Do you know what that means?" Jasmine asked as she deflected yet another spear strike." Hesitate" Jasmine and Nicholas leapt out of the way of the oncoming fire blast, neither wanting to waste energy blocking it.

"Of course I do, and that's why we have to do it."

"Why should we do that?" Jasmine asked desperately. She didn't want to be judge, jury, and executioner.

"Why shouldn't I?" Nicholas said as he reared back.

"Someone has to do it, so why shouldn't I be the one who makes the change to do so?" Jasmine could feel a piece of her breaking even as Nicholas's words resonated with his soul and, by consequence, her own. And because he was right, someone had to stop Lupine. If they wanted to change the world, he made a good point. Why shouldn't they be the ones who make that change? She knew Nicholas wasn't some bloodthirsty monster. He couldn't fool her that much.

She just wished it wasn't like he was chomping at the bit to get revenge.

"I'll back your play because what you want to do is right, even if I don't like it," Jasmine said, Quicksilver taking the form of a cloud of silver needles. It was easy to be the shield. To protect. Because she could almost always know it was right. To attack with the plan of going all out. That was harder. If she was going all out, and especially if Nicholas was doing the same beside her, she couldn't guarantee everyone's life.

"I know, despite my desire to, I don't love it either." Nicholas said simply.

"Thanks for backing my play, and I promise the same for you." Jasmine set her feet. They had a plan now; they would beat down Lupine until they could either kill him or force him to surrender. Though part of her couldn't like that. If he surrendered, she knew what would happen; her grandma had gone on at length about what happened to those who could successfully use both power sets.

He would either go villain and be fed enough resources to keep advancing, or "Lupine" would die, and in a few weeks, a new hero would burst out onto the scene. Flames blasted through their barrier as Lupine burst through, seeming stronger than ever.

"Shit, he absorbed the workings from your hammer," Nicholas said, putting it together faster than she could. Jasmine turned all of her workings inward." Barrage," the needles flew out, seeking weak points where there wouldn't be flames as she dove in. If they needed to batter down their opponent, she would do that." Lullaby" Nicholas repeated the command, the haunting melody cutting off, but a new one didn't start. Until he began to sing.

The effect was immediate; the energy drain from the lullaby became so much more powerful when he sang it. Jasmine hadn't known that he could sing, or that it would change the power of his ability.

She was going to bully him about that later.

"Now we're even," Jasmine said, smashing her hammer into Lupine's shocked face. With Book on maximize, and Nicholas on lullaby, she wouldn't be getting any more support from him unless he changed tunes. But there was a standard practice on how to deal with vampiric types. They needed energy to fuel something, so if they were being drained faster than they could durian others, they would likely tire themselves out.

Jasmine's job was to be a nuisance and stop Lupine from attacking her friend, both things she loved to do. Jasmine blocked another spear thrust, though it was odd the spear wasn't as heavy as it had been. She swung her hammer Lupine raising both of his spears to block the attack. The spears shattered like glass, the shards dissolving into energy that flowed into Lupine's body. Her hammer met his chest, and the man crumpled.

"I don't need that power," Lupine snarled, flames spilling out of him.

"I have more!" Lupine burst into flames, flying towards them once again, but Jasmine could see it beneath the flames. His body was consuming itself.

"Do you see it?" Jasmine asked, dodging to the side. Just because she resisted soul damage didn't mean she wanted to get hit by more. Nicholas pulsed agreement through their bond, still singing.

"Lupine stop! You're going to hurt yourself. You're burning your body up to keep up with your power; don't do this," Jasmine begged, booting him back.

"I'm not going to do something like that. I'll kill both of you and walk out of here." Lupine said the flames building." Break" This time when Nicholas's will collided with Lupine. Lupine's broke. The flames shattered, and the man crumpled to the floor.

"Hey look, that worked," Nicholas said, moving forward even as Lupine gathered power again. She could feel it building. But she trusted Nicholas.

"You know there's a word I made before Up, or Down. Because I wanted to make sure that I couldn't use it willy-nilly, that I could set up rules and conditions so that it wouldn't pop up. But the thing is. Those rules and conditions make it so that when I can use it, the word is so much stronger." Nicholas said, holding Lupine by the hair.

"So what? They won't kill me. You've defeated me, so now I'm going to be their lapdog because the strongest always win!" Lupine said, spitting in Nicholas's face.

"That's not surrender now is it? We were told that we have to solve this." Nicholas said, his expression troubled. This wasn't something he wanted to do. But he wasn't strong enough to say he could stop it if he didn't do this. And he couldn't abide a villain go on his watch. And if they just knocked him out here that's what they would use him as. A villain, an attack dog. A useful weapon on a leash. Or they'd look the other way.

Let him debut again under a different name and consume other people to grow his powers always turning a blind eye. Unacceptable." Die"