When I was a little girl I had always wondered why so many characters in stories would say stuff like "I laugh in the face of danger!" or "Danger is my middle name!". I had always assumed it was just some cheesy line to make the characters seem cooler. After all, fearlessness was cool. It was the mark of someone who was completely sure of themselves, of someone who was confidant they could make it through any situation. It never appealed to me personally, but I figured that's what it was there for. Now? Actually being in one of those situations? The intense feeling of fear at exactly what I was seeing and rushing adrenaline pushed nervous laughter from my mouth. There was still an undercurrent of excitement at a real fight but this…

Bambina deceased, CD-6, Eidolon deceased, CD-6, Aegis deceased, CD-6, Wraith deceased, CD-6, Rhapsody deceased, CD-6, Nihilus deceased, CD-6, Samael deceased, CD-6, Purity deceased, CD-6, Trickster deceased, CD-5, Sundancer deceased, CD-5, Shadow Stalker deceased, CD-5, Grue Deceased, CD-5, Hellhound deceased…

This was insanity. Some of those names were over a block away from us. It didn't… It didn't make any sense that he could just do something like that, ripping the blood out of people. Yet here I was, frozen as I watched the thick sea of blood merge with Leviathan's supply of water, giving him a horror movie glow. I felt sick, like I would throw up into my mask. I wanted nothing more than to move, to attack, but I was frozen, watching the bodies fall from the sky while Leviathan stared me down, daring me to try something, the list of names still going droning on into background noise as my heartbeat grew louder in my ears.

"—sanct!" I felt Alexandria shove me. "Sacrosanct! Snap out of it!" She shouted again.

"This is…"

"I know," She snarled. "He should have retreated by now but…" She shook her head. "You can fix this right? Reverse it like you did before?"

"Yeah," I nodded, eyes still on Leviathan. If he decided to move again I didn't want to be caught off guard.

"Listen to me well, Sacrosanct," Alexandria's voice was grave, like she planned to kill me if I disobeyed whatever she was about to tell me, "No one can remember this. If they do, it's over. Participation in these fights drops to zero and we lose by default. We have to lie to them. He pulled water from the aquifer and stabbed everyone in range. Something. They just can't know what he really did, got it?" She asked tensely.

"Yeah," I nodded again. I completely understood where she was coming from. Endbringer attacks were already one of the greatest sources of collective anxiety. If people knew they could do stuff like this it would be over. Mass suicides, an uptick in Fallen attacks, absolute despair on a global level. They'd win and humanity would be over. Without a way to get off Earth Bet that would be it.

"I'm glad you understand. So if you could fix this before he starts moving again, that would be great."

"Actually, why isn't he moving?" I asked. Leviathan hadn't moved at all since he killed everyone. He was just standing there. Menacingly. So what was the problem? He should have been attacking. Leaving. Something.

"No clue," She shrugged. "This has never happened before. But if you could get to the fixing part?!" She said harshly.

"Right," I nodded.

This was something I'd never actually done before. Having to use my powers on such a large scale for so many people was new, and while I knew I could do it, actually doing it was something else entirely. I had to approach this from a new perspective. I took a deep breath, and for the first time negated cause instead of effect when reviving someone.

The difference was instantly noticeable. For one, Leviathan's blood shield was gone and he seemed to be aware again. People were back in the air as if they'd never fallen, no one seemed to remember what had happened because I had made it never happen in the first place. And I knew that would be the outcome, but it was still… Negating "Death" was not the same as negating the event that caused it and I felt stupid for not seeing that before.

"Move!" Wraith shouted, moving away from the block.

I hadn't even noticed the fight had started again. A wave was building, tall as Leviathan himself, then it shot forward. The few cars that remained on the street were swept up along with the debris from the smashed buildings.

Eidolon swept down, apparently switching to a hydrokinesis power to part the wave and slow it down. It bought a bit of time for people to get out of the way, but not much more since Leviathan's own hydrokinesis forced the wave forward. Alexandria came down slammed her fist into the wave, dispersing it. I was actually in awe of the feat, since literally punching water had never crossed my mind.

Leviathan came crashing through a building shortly after, not surprising me, but giving me just enough time to phase through the debris and dodge out of the way. I was wary of phasing through him again after last time. No way was I willing to deal with whatever that was a second time, especially if it meant my team having to cover for my recover time. They were durable enough, but no way did I want them getting smashed the same way Nihilus did.

I did, however, get the chance to charge up a Cero shot as I dodged and fired it straight at Leviathan. His arm twitched as the blast hit him square in the chest before he managed to dodge, avoiding the majority of the damage.

"I got it!" Wraith suddenly shouted. "Boss, your head came near his chest when you phased through him. It's his chest! Aim for the chest!" She shouted.

Leviathan spun, his tail knocking Alexandria away from him as she sped close to him.

"All blasters focus fire on the chest!" Legend shouted, everyone in range complied, aiming exclusively for the specified area even as Leviathan dashed through the concentrated bouts of fire.

Gorgon and Alexandria managed to drop him to the ground, each hitting a leg as he tried to speed through a building. Several blasts hit him in the chest, including a vicious looking one from Eidolon.

"Clear for Miss Militia!" Armsmaster said over the comms.

A moment later several bombs came flying from the top of a building.

Leviathan managed to roll out of the way, using his water to block a few of the bombs, but his foot was trapped by a time stop bomb. He fought, swiping and slashing at everything in his range. Dauntless flew in to attack with his lance thing and I flew in to help only to get caught in the rabid swipe that knocked us both into the time bubble trapping the monsters foot.

Dauntless deceased, CD-6

I was surprised it didn't say my name for a moment before realizing I could move normally. I waved my hand, eyes raising at the trippy haze that followed after. I didn't feel any heavier than normal, but moving was slightly slower than usual. Not as thick as water, but close. I snatched Dauntless by his collar and dashed out of the bubble, startling Aegis as she tried to disable Leviathan's free leg.

"Espada, gather on me, full power," I shouted. Leviathan was trapped. No way we'd miss this chance to really hurt him.

They followed my order instantly, even Purity gathered with us as we cut a finger and gathered power for a Cero.

"Concentrate it!" Wraith shouted. "As small as you can make it into a tight beam!"

I was almost surprised as the bright blue light from my chest turned black, but I didn't pay it much mind.

"Fire!" I shouted, not even noticing the several other blasts that fired along side ours. The blast's combined, a single condensed beam of energy formed from six that blasted right through the monster's chest. The blast didn't engulf him, instead refracting through his body like a prism, though I couldn't tell if the beams that bounced out of him were lethal or not.

Leviathan screamed as the attack hit, a high pitched sound that I could only think sounded like his sisters song. A blue mist erupted from him as his trapped leg was severed. His body was smoking as he scrambled for the ocean, his waves smashing harder and harder against Nihilus' shield as his arms slowly dissipated into whatever the mist coming off of him was. Even with his speed it was only a torso that we watched disappear into the ocean.

Everyone was silent for a moment after what had happened, but I was the first to break that silence, a low chuckle breaking from me that slowly built into loud laughter. The others followed after, laughter and cheers following after mine in celebration of what had just happened.

We'd won.

AN: I was trying to avoid boss rush mode. I don't intend for this story to last long enough for it to be a problem, but it would be for the epilogue or however I eventually decide to end this. The bigger problem is Ziz had a few minutes of self awareness while Eidolon was dead. What she decided to set in place with that time will remain to be seen.