Heroic New Era: Fantasies of Heroism
Chapter 4: The World Government's Best: The First Seraphim Strikes!
"Nnngh…" Yang groaned as she just took a massive blow from Seraphim Hope, leaving Heiwa and Popol with no protection from the copy of Hope.
Standing right before them, was something of Hope in his early heroic years… except that his brown hair was fairly matted, and his skin was a darker hue of tan, and his eyes weren't normal at all, with the fact that the blue irises bore pupils that resembled wings, as there was not a ounce of emotion on his face, as he slowly advanced towards both Popol and Heiwa.
"What the hell is this… this thing…!?" Heiwa growled. "It looks like some sort of regressed android that seems far more powerful for some damn reason…! It literally blasted Yang away in a single blast… Yang, are you okay?"
"I'm… still breathin'... hehe…" Yang groaned as she tried to get back to her feet.
"Don't push it… we can't just attack it… It just simply attacked faster than we thought… and it fights like that boy for some reason… yet he's got no spirit in his attacks…" Heiwa assessed the Seraphim before her. "It's as if they copied his own powers, enhanced them with a robotic mindset that is dedicated to using them at the fullest extent."
Seraphim Hope then immediately pressed his hands together, before then immediately firing a massive torrent of fire, as Heiwa merely smirked, as she redirected the fire away.
"That was a bad move, you stupid-" Heiwa stated, before she then saw that the Seraphim was preparing another attack, as he then fired a literal train-shaped construct right at Heiwa, as it was hurtling at speeds that were too fast for her to dodge. "Oh Underworld-"
"MY LOVE!" Popol yelled as he shoved Heiwa out of the way as he took the attack full on. "AAAAAGH!"
"POPOL!" Heiwa exclaimed, as Popol was sent sprawling across the entire field, as the attack battered him hard, before she then snarled. "Oh, you're going to REGRET that!"
Heiwa then proceeded to rush through the field, as she disappeared in a blur, as she struck from multiple angles, trying to claw the Seraphim down, although the Seraphim did not seem to be affected by the attack, being merely shifted by each attack, before it then noticed Heiwa going for a leaping strike.
Without any hesitation, the Seraphim caught Heiwa by the throat, causing her to drop her brush onto the ground, as the force was enough to choke her, as she clawed at the arm to try and get him to let go, all while the Seraphim spun its hand around, as energy gathered to his other hand, as if preparing to fire a point-blank attack right into the kitsune Overlord.
"HEIWA!" Siege yelled as he rushed into view, slashing the Seraphim to distract him from Heiwa, as the attack actually managed to do some damage, causing him to release Heiwa in the surprise, as Richard caught Heiwa, and set her down aside, all while she was wheezing for air.
"...I figured that this was going to happen… just had to believe things were going to be fine, didn't I…" Richard hissed under his breath. "...Heiwa, I'm sorry for what happened."
"Don't… apologise…" Heiwa wheezed. "Just… get that… damn piece of shit… turned to scrap… or whatever… it's made of…"
"Don't you worry, we'll take this from here!" Brazera exclaimed as the rest of the forces arrived.
"What the hell is this thing…?" Mokou remarked. "It looks far too familiar to me… isn't that one of the kids who helped you take care of the situation on the other side?"
"No. It's much worse. I identify this target as completely robotic, designed with one objective: Killing all of us." Lucia said.
"Tch…" Ruby growled as she saw what it did to Yang. "Let's see to it that it's properly destroyed!"
"...Don't get reckless." Richard warned everyone. "You mustn't even show a sign of weakness… if you can't fight anymore… let the rest of us handle it… going at him while you're weakened… that's a death sentence waiting to happen."
"Richard… that's a Seraphim, isn't it?" Kaguya remarked. "I figured those eye shapes were off somehow… So this is what the World Government have been making on the other side…?"
"I figured that they had to even the odds a little." Richard growled. "But to have them here… it's both a blessing and a curse really… All we can do is to take it down… but not destroy it."
"Why not destroy it?" Sam asked with a raised brow.
"One because it'll be a futile exercise. If they can create this… we may delay them greatly… but we might end up having a lot more Seraphims sent to us if we get too aggressive." Richard reasoned. "And second of all… it's not worth the price. We don't know how much we can do to it… but I have a ominous feeling of how much it can do to us… and let's not assume that it's any weaker than the others we fought… I can tell that it doesn't have the same power to transform like the original… because if it did… we would be far more fucked than we are right now."
"Then let's deal with this… before this thing starts actually focusing on hurting others." Mokou stated.
The Seraphim merely regarded the group in silence, before it then raised a hand, as prismatic energy rushed into it.
"MOVE!" Richard exclaimed, as the group separated, as the Seraphim fired off a massive beam of rainbow energy that tore right into the horizon, carving a hole through the mountain range it hit.
Frigg had been making her way back to the Heirs when even the beam caught her eye, plus the crumbling rocks afar in that mountain.
"Jesus, that's a LOT of firepower… even I'm not comfortable taking a hit from that!" Mokou exclaimed. "And I'm supposed to be immortal!"
"Tch… don't let a single attack hit any of us, and keep Yang, Popol, and Heiwa out of blast range!" Siege exclaimed.
"I got it!" Richard shouted back, as he used sukimas to get the three out of combat range, before the Seraphim rushed forward, forcing Richard to side-step, as a empowered punch hit where his head was, before Mokou went for a flying kick that knocked the Seraphim back a few steps.
"Eat this!" Kaguya exclaimed, as she flicked her naginata, creating a continuous beam of energy that hit the Seraphim, as it was forced to block it, as it was locked in place. "Now! Hit it while I keep it stuck in place trying to block!"
"On it!" Lucia exclaimed as she blitzed in a streak of red slashes through it multiple times, as she was aided by Ruby who fired demonic enhanced shots at it, who was also aided by Sam with multiple energy slashes from his blade.
"Alright Richard, your guys' turn!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Already on it!" Richard exclaimed, as Kaguya and Mokou immediately pulled out a Spell Card each.
"Declare Spell Card!" Kaguya and Mokou declared. "Divine Treasure "Brilliant Dragon Barrette"!/Undying "'South Wind, Clear Sky' Soaring Kick"!"
Kaguya then shot an endless barrage of rainbow-coloured lasers, as the Seraphim tried to deflect them with some sort of shield formed from blue energy, although a good part of them were hitting, while Mokou leapt into the air, before her leg was consumed into flames.
"BURN IN HELL!" Mokou roared, before she then shot down at immense speeds, as the Seraphim was hit directly by the attack, as he was driven right through several feet of earthen ground, before the entire hole erupted into a massive burst of fire in the form of a pillar.
"...Did that work…?' Kaguya remarked. "No, even that wouldn't be enough to take down a monster like that!"
The Seraphim immediately climbed out of the pit, as its own clothing was singed, revealing that there was a 'PX-H' black tattoo across the chest in big bold letters.
"Well, there's that theory proven." Richard remarked. "The World Government really are making Seraphim of the Hero Alliance leaders… if not the entire leading roster over in that reality…"
"That's just lovely…" Siege huffed. "We need more manpower. What we have here isn't enough to take this Seraphim down…"
"Not if we hit it harder!" Richard remarked. "Siege, if we and I transform, although not to our strongest forms… we can at least guarantee that it stays down long enough for us to beat a quick retreat… even the Seraphim does not have a way to find us quickly enough to stop us from dealing with other matters."
"Alright… let's do it." Siege nodded as he sparked with power, yelling as he transformed up two levels, to his Arcane Mastery form. "Let's do it!"
"I'm right behind you. The rest of you, keep an eye for any other unwelcome interferers." Richard stated, before he then crossed his arms, and then let out a war-cry, as he turned into a variant of his other self's Master Form, except he regained the same crystalline wings when he was fighting Ryogyuku with. "Let's dance, faker!"
Siege made the first move, rushing forward as he shot forth multiple spells circles around Seraphim Hope, hitting him on all sides with various elemental spells, as Siege leapt up and attempted to slash down with Ragnell-Yato.
Richard then rushed right into the Seraphim, before throwing a powerful straight punch right into the gut, stunning the Seraphim, before he then conjured a magic circle right on his hand, and then sticking it right into the chest of the Seraphim, creating a massive explosion of light that sent the Seraphim flying back, before Richard created a sukima to rebound it right back to Siege.
Siege caught it with multiple elemental attacks, both physical and ranged as he juggled it for quite a bit, before Siege jumped up, summoning a large elemental ball. "Finish things, Richard! ARCANE EXPLOSION!" Siege yelled, firing it like a Big Bang Attack as the Seraphim was sent hurtling towards Richard.
"I'll send you right to the void you were born from, imposter!" Richard exclaimed, as he then clasped his right hand, while drawing a spell card with the other. "Declare Arcanum! Origin Strike 'God's Right'!"
Richard then threw his fist forward, as it collided right into the stomach of the Seraphim, as the blow emitted a cascade of rainbow lasers, as cracks began to form right on the skin of the Seraphim, with the force of both attacks being too powerful for even whatever ludicrous defences to be able to withstand, as there was a mighty explosion, as Richard and the Seraphim was left flying back in opposite directions.
Richard immediately righted himself, as he floated back down to ground beside Siege, as the rest of the group came over to see what had happened, as they saw that the two of them were alone on the field, as the body of the Seraphim had fallen far, as several parts were missing from it, revealing unnatural flesh and bone underneath with cybernetic elements, such as bones of unknown metal composition, and a missing lower jaw, as well as both of its arms being destroyed from the blast.
"...Whew." Richard whistled in relief, as he decided to lower his own energy output to avoid burning out his own energy reserve, as the light of his own powered form diminished considerably. "...That should take care of things… even if the Cipher Pol agents find this… it will be a far too long of a time to repair this… considering what base it was built from."
"So… is it over?" Brazera asked as Siege powered down as well, as Siege was about to call it as such when he noticed something right where the Seraphim had landed.
"...You gotta be joking." Siege said in disbelief, watching as the Seraphim, with whatever systems it had left, rose to its feet yet again. "This isn't over yet!?"
The Seraphim was making broken sounds from its broken jaw, before they noticed that there was a unnatural glow in its chest, as Richard realised what it is.
"Oh, you fucking kidding me, they actually went and set a self-destruct system right into that Seraphim!?" Richard exclaimed. "As if that unnatural durability and ungodly strength wasn't overkill enough!"
"No, that's meant for a last resort… a final fuck you…!" Kaguya exclaimed. "That energy… with that, it could blow a good part of the region out!"
"Well, I don't intend to let it have the chance to detonate!" Richard exclaimed, as he quickly turned his power output back up. "Siege, let's-"
Before any of them could ask, something struck the Seraphim from behind, as it became immobile, as if something was locking it in place.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." The voice of Magina rang through the air as she appeared to the group as an Astral Projection.
"Lady Magina…!" Siege exclaimed.
"Not such a good idea to just 'take it down' anymore, eh Richard?" Magina asked.
Richard could only shake his hand, as he felt chided by the fact that he did not anticipate this development. "No, you're right. I let myself be a little too complacent." Richard clicked his tongue.
"Indeed. And if you truly want to be a threat to the World Government, what better way to do so than obliterating their prized creations?" Magina hummed. "That would send a much bigger message than simply decommissioning them. But you are correct, doing so requires much effort and time you don't have. Luckily for you, I still have many contacts with many powerful allies."
"Really?" Kaguya asked back. "What kind of people are they? I bet that they must be pretty renowned for their skills if you're calling them for this kind of mission."
"Let's just say where they're from, Odin has quite the ways of blessing them, no matter their walks of life, or if they were dead in the long past." Magina hinted, causing Siege to look at her in shock.
"You mean-!?" Siege exclaimed.
"Sadly, none of your closer friends are a part of this crew… but someone else near to your heart is." Magina winked before she vanished, the self-destruction sequence halted on the Seraphim as suddenly, rainbows shot from the sky down onto the ground behind the Seraphim.
Cue: Valhalla Calling - Miracle of Sound ft. Peyton Parrish
The first to walk from the transportation area was a woman in Japanese styled clothing, with muscular build, black hair, and red eyes, the only Norse thing about her appearing to be the markings on her spear. This was Ryojmia, an enlightened monk who was blessed with the powers of Surtr.
The next to walk out was a woman of similar build, having wolf ears and wolf tail, having black hair and black color to her wolf features, wearing what appeared to be a denim jacket, blue tank top which was torn to a blue sports bra shape, torn blue jeans, and brown boots, her battle axe looking to be blessed by Thor himself, as she not only had that, but a certain hammer clipped to her side.
And the third to exit the Bifrost transport… was a woman Siege recognized all too well. Though her white hair and battle armor was different, Siege recognized the soft blue eyes and gentle yet fierce aura she was emanating. She drew a Claymore, looking to be blessed with many different powers.
"No way….." Siege said in utter disbelief.
"You know the woman in the center?" Sam deduced.
"Yeah…. That's my mom, Destiny." Siege explained.
And that of course cued a collective. "THAT'S YOUR MOTHER!?"
"...Yep." Siege chuckled, holding his emotions as best he could.
"Wait.." Richard remarked. "I recall that in that other reality… that he had a mother of the same name before… Ah, sorry, I was just wondering about something… I got it from hearsay from the Soldiers of Fortune."
The Seraphim was helpless for the final assault. It started as Klora rushed forward and sent it flying up with Mjölnir, before chucking her ax through it, cutting it in two, as Ryojmia began to spin her spear rapidly, before she shot forth a powerful blast.
"RYUSOKEN!" Ryojmia yelled, firing the blast into the Seraphim, blasting it apart further as Destiny leapt up, Spell card in one hand, and Claymore in the other.
"Declare Spell: Odin Sign: 'Judgement's Verdict!'" She yelled as she would slash once, the power of the slash causing an explosion, evaporating the pieces left of the Seraphim, as all that was left was the broken pieces strewn across the ground.
Theme ends
"And that's that settled." Magina would cut back in before she looked at Richard. "Now do you understand why I was so angry with you for what you've done? Things like the Seraphim, Richard." Magina scolded as she bonked Richard on the head, which even in her projection form still hurt a good bit.
"I know… but even still, I can't with a clear conscience say that I regret it enough that I say that I shouldn't have done it." Richard admitted. "But yes, since we're in this mess, the least I can do is to deal with the hand dealt to me, and I ain't going to pretty up what this all is."
"If that's the case then at least you're willing to accept the consequences for your actions. Now let's get formalities out of the way." Magina said. "Oh ladies!"
The trio of women just summoned made their way over to the group.
"Hey mom." Siege smiled at Destiny.
"Siege…" Destiny smiled gently as she walked up and hugged Siege tightly. "I'm glad we can finally see each other like this again…"
"Me too. But we need to save emotional memories for after this." Siege said as Destiny nodded and let her son go.
"ahem For those who Siege hasn't told, I'm his mother, Destiny, a pleasure to meet you all." Destiny introduced with a smile.
"Greetings. I am Ryojmia. My services and spear are yours to command." Ryojmia bowed.
"'Sup. Klora Meka. I might be blessed by the gods but I'm tech savvy too. Point me to something that needs to be fixed and I'll fix it." Klora introduced.
"Ryojmia…" Richard hummed with a hand under his chin. "...Where have I heard that name before… I swear that you're familiar somehow… but I can't seem to remember where and when."
"Hm? I don't recall us meeting before." Ryojmia stated.
"I know… but I just get the feeling that…" Richard stated, before then shaking his head. "Never mind, let's just move on. It's good to meet you, Destiny and Klora. I hope that the three of you will find our company welcoming."
"Agreed. Magina told us the task at hand. We need to shut down Omnium Towers, right?" Klora asked.
"That's the idea. We shut down the one in Banges, but we need to shut down three more. The one at Cetus Island, the one in the Crown Mines, and one more in Warren Snowland." Siege explained.
"We gotta go back THERE!?" Ruby exclaimed, shivering already at the prospect.
"We can handle that part, if you like." Mokou suggested in a helpful manner to Ruby.
"Thanks…" Ruby shivered.
"First, let's go back to Banges and check on the three injured. I'm certain they'd like to get back to full health and rejoin us quickly." Sam suggested.
"Affirmative." Lucia nodded before the group would receive a call from Dr. Joaquin.
"Does anyone read this on this channel?" Joaquin would ask over comms.
"Yes. We hear you." Ramlethal would say, being the first time she had spoken up since the mission started, she and Valentine had made sure no Hyenas or Ravagers or even World Government lackeys intervened in anything.
"Good. I need a couple of you up here to help in retrieving another Simulacra, this time it's hard data that's been taken from us, and we need it back." Joaquin explained.
"I'll go up. I'm curious on what these types of missions entail." Siege explained.
"I'll join you." Ramlethal affirmed.
"And I shall as well." Valentine answered back.
"Eh, guess I'll take a trip as well." Kaguya remarked, before turning to Richard. "I do wanna see some more action, and I think that there might be something interesting in the simulacra."
"Go ahead." Richard gestured to Kaguya with a gentle nod.
With that said, the rest of the group returned to Banges Port to check up on Yang, Heiwa, and Popol, while the others made a trip to Hykros via the Omnium Tower to meet with Joaquin on the next Simulacra story.