His sudden increase in speed and power turned Leviathan from "he's fast but I can still physically see him" to a literal "blink and you miss it" torpedo of death. He dashed down the street, heading straight for Alexandria and I'd almost missed the fact that he moved. The only real indication was his change in poster followed closely by the ice cold vacuum of air and water that followed in his wake, then the water clone.
"Shit!" Wraith shouted, getting out of the way as the water clone shot towards her instead of following after the original. The building she was standing on flooded, the windows shattering at the force of the clone and I was slightly surprised the building wasn't bowled over by the force. A loud crack filled the air and I turned to see Alexandria flying through the air, too far for her to have just been hit.
"He hit her so fast there was a sound delay!" Rhapsody shouted. "This is fucked up!"
Leviathan spun, whipping his tail at the other flying bricks that got close to him and knocking them through buildings. Legend's lasers still hit home, but they weren't making his skin red hot like before. Gorgon was up close, hammering him with blows when she could, but was obviously doing less damage than before.
"Stop bitching, Rhapsody!" I shouted back. "If you have time to bitch you have time to fight, so get to it!" I raised my gun and fired off a volley of Cero from my gun. I had to be careful how long I let it go because he was moving a lot sooner than before. Less than a second was the longest I could go before I'd end up hitting a building or the other combatants. That was still enough time for hundreds of Cero, but that felt like a drop in the bucket compared to before.
"Yeah!" Nihilus shouted, summoning her spear. "You were the one complaining you had to be on rescue!" She said, channeling energy into her spear.
"Yeah, but that was before this bullshit!" He said, dashing down and pulling someone out of the flood of water on the ground.
"Catch this you stupid lizard!" Nihilus shouted, throwing her spear as hard as she could.
Leviathan turned in time for the spear to stick in on of his eyes.
The the world flashed green.
Leviathan stumbled back, falling into a building and Gorgon came down like meteor on his chest. She screamed as she pounded into him, though her onslaught didn't last for long. He called his water to him and it slammed down on his chest where Gorgon was. Or had been. She managed to dodge at the last second and Leviathan's body was covered in water again.
"That was a hell of a move!" Samael shouted as he and Purity fired lasers down on the beast as he stood.
"I came up with the idea a while ago," Nihilus said as she recalled her spear. "Never had the chance to use it til now."
"It's intense," I commended, firing off several distortions at Leviathan.
His skin peeled away from the deep gashes giving him the appearance of a gem in the middle of being cut. Deep angular cuts in his skin and body. He shook his head as if trying to clear his head before dashing forward again. He was aiming for Nihilus, but I was in his way. It was nothing to phase through him but decided to see how big a chunk I could take out of him in the process. I lowered down to just below his chest as he dashed forward and shifted my whole body, planning to saw through whatever the hell he was made of and leave a Taylor sized chunk in his midsection.
The plan did not work out.
The second I made contact I felt pain. A sharp jolt like lightning ran through me and all I could feel was the immense pain in an immense ever expanding fractal. I felt like I could see myself, shattered like the reflection in a broken mirror, then it was gone.
I took a deep gasping breath as Leviathan dashed back, apparently feeling whatever the fuck that was too. I managed to stay in the air, but I was hunched over, hand at my throat as I tried to get my breathing back under control. The pain was still there, deep but fading. I barely had time to think about what exactly happened before I was suddenly pushed to the side and through an apartment window.
"Watch out!" Nihilus shouted, her voice far away as she slammed into me. I didn't have time to register what was happening before she was gone, replaced by Leviathan as I slumped dumbly against someone's couch. I was still trying to catch my breath when Dragon called the name.
Nihilus down, DB-4
"Nihilus!" I shouted, forgetting my fatigue and dashing after her.
I found her stuck in the ground on the other side of an office building, which she'd been tossed through.
"Shit, you okay?" I asked, pulling her out of the ground.
"Pain," She grunted as she made it to her feet. "Thanks," She offered as I healed her up.
"I should be the one thanking you," I scoffed as we rushed back to the fight. "You took a hit for me. You shouldn't have."
"I just… Moved," She shrugged.
"Still, thanks," I said.
We got back to find Leviathan frozen. Somehow Clockblocker managed to convince someone to get him close enough to freeze the beast, but I was just glad we got some breathing room.
"Wraith!" I shouted, getting her attention.
"What's up boss?" She asked, coming down.
"There's something up with that thing," I pointed at Leviathan, idly aware of Miss Militia setting something up on a nearby roof. "When I tried to phase cut it, it was like… I was just in pain. It was like I could see myself like looking through broken glass, fractured."
I watched her eyes dart around, mind obviously working overtime at the information.
"You passed through the base of his tail this time, the groin area," She said.
"Yeah. But I also tried to cut him at the same time. And my cuts don't seem to be doing as much damage as before with how much of him we've apparently shaved off."
Her eye twitched and she rubbed her head. Armsmaster and Alexandria were clearing people from the block. I hopefully whatever they had planned worked if it required that much prep.
"I feel like I'm so close to a break through," She sighed.
"Fire!" Armsmaster shouted.
We snapped our heads to see what was going on. Leviathan was moving again and Miss Militia had just fired some bombs at him. The first exploded just behind him as he tried to dodge only to get pulled back. The tip of his tail got caught and the beast fought against the pull even as the nearby buildings. It was almost funny watching him fight against the pull of the black hole, even as it slowly ate his tail.
"That's one of Bakuda's bombs," Nihilus said as another bomb landed on the beasts head, this one had no obvious visual effect, but I could tell it was doing damage, layer after layer of its crystalline skin shaved off. The black hole stopped, exploding once its pull was done. The explosion didn't do anything, but that didn't matter in the long run.
"Gorgon, knock him up," I shouted.
"On it!"
The girl dashed forward and up, rocketing into Leviathan's chin and sending him into the air. She hit him again. The again. Then again. Each hit sending Leviathan further and further into the air until he was clear above the buildings we were near.
"Fire!" I shouted. Every blaster who could hear me did, a rainbow of lasers smashing into the beast as he twisted and thrashed in the air. The onslaught lasted nearly fifteen seconds but felt far longer. Then, Gorgon grabbed him and he started spinning. Faster and faster they spun as they head for the ground until she slammed him down, planting his head in the street like a plant.
"She just Izuna Dropped a fucking Endbringer! This is an amazing day!" Rhapsody shouted.
Leviathan stood and tossed his head back as if in a bestial shout, the little water he had access to spinning around him rapidly. I felt a sudden pull and a sharp pain from inside my body but managed to stop whatever it was before it got too much. I rubbed my stomach, the phantom pains from whatever caused it still there. I looked up to check on the others and was greeted by the sight of red.
Then the names started.
Myrddin deceased, CD-6, Legend deceased, Armsmaster deceased, CD-6, Miss Militia deceased, CD-6, CD-6, Dauntless deceased, CD-6, Lady Photon deceased, CD-6, Laserdream deceased, CD-6, Shielder deceased, CD-6, Chevalier deceased, CD-6, Rime deceased, CD-6, Jotun deceased, CD-6, Triumph deceased, CD-6…
AN: I started writing and realized the level of escalation I started the chapter with didn't make sense. So expect 5.5 to be crazy. If you don't know what an Izune Drop is, the most popular example would be the Primary Lotus from Naruto or Vega's command grab from Street Fighter. Taylor's phase cutting does not mix with Endbringer cores.