Chapter 57: Calvin vs. Zeus

"One and the same...? But how is that possible?" Asked Adrian.

"Time travel, it's a real bitch," stated Zeus. Kessler began to move, slowly rising to his knees and elbows, and before anyone could stop him, Zeus grabbed the top of Kesslers' head, absorbing all the life in his body in a bright electrical current, and the old man fell to the ground, breathing shallow, and he reached into his ragged robes, retrieving a faded photograph, looking at it one last time as he faded into a bright red glow,

"Katrina..." he wheezed, looking at the photo, "Forgive me...my love..." His body then vanished into the red glow, leaving behind nothing but the photograph, and a single pawn piece. Calvin knelt down, picking the photo up, and his eyes welled up, seeing it was a picture of himself, kissing the swollen belly of a pregnant Katrina.

"So I guess he really was me..." Calvin murmered to himself. He stood up, turning to Zeus with expression serious. "So...now that the old man is dead, just like you wanted..." he pocketed the photo, "...what happens now?" Zeus stared at the pawn piece, finally achieving what he had meant to achieve for what seemed like years to him.

"The next step is simple: I have to kill you!" He then formed a battleaxe of red and violet electricity, readying it to fight Calvin. The other devils readied themselves as well, yet it was Calvin that simply walked forward.

"I figured you would say something along those lines..." He then swirled his finger around, forming a magic barrier around himself and Zeus, keeping the others out. Adrian and Katrina were the first to come up to the barrier,

"Calvin, what the hell are you doing?!" Shouted Katrina, pressing her hands against the sloped wall of the barrier.

"You can't beat him on your own!" Said Adrian, growing more and more concerned for his friend inside, ready to fight his evil alternate future self. Calvin turned to his friends, a sad smile on his face,

"Don't worry about a thing, I'll be alright," Calvin reassured them. Adrian placed his Sacred Gear arm on the barrier, about to start using the Ravenous Reaper, until a red and violet lightning bolt coursed up Adrians arm and sent him flying back, his scale mail dissolving into oblivion. He landed on the ground hard, skidding close to where Asia was sleeping and Wesker was watching. The other devils ran to his aide, while Katrina stayed close to the barrier, keeping watch as Calvin was about to fight Zeus.

"Don't you fucking hurt my friends you freak!" Shouted Calvin, only for Zeus to scoff at him,

"If you don't want me to hurt them, then make sure they stay out of my way," Zeus said plainly, as if talking to a toddler. "That was one mistake Kessler made; having his friends...my friends...fight me when I no longer feared how I used my power and on who!" Calvin seethed, and grabbed his Amp off his back, charging it up. Zeus looked at the Amp with peculiar interest,

"Huh. I never had one of those in my timeline."

"And you never will!" Said Calvin, charging at Zeus at an inceedible speed, swinging the amp right at Zeus' side, only for it to collide with the electric battleaxe. Zeus forced him back, twirled the weapon in the air with ease, and tried to hit Calvin with a series of quick attacks, but the younger conduit barely managed to block every single one by the skin of his teeth. Zeus then zipped in a flash of red light and reappeared behind Calvin, slamming the grip of the battleaxe against his spine. Calvin fell to the ground face first, barely rolling out of the way of a downward strike from Zeus, sent a missle of electricity at his face, blinding him for a moment, and kipping up to his feet. Zeus was already waiting for him, and spawned several red dopplegangers of himself, surrounding Calvin, who shot each of them in the head with a small pulse of electricity, dissolving them one by one as he narrowly avoided swipes from each of them and their battleaxes. Once they were dealt with, Zeus appeared in front of him, lashing out with his weapon, which Calvin leaned far enough back from to avoid a decapitation, but still recieved a deep cut on his chest. Calvin stepped back, bringing a hand to his cut, seeing blood on his fingers, only to wipe it off on his pants, and tighten his grip on his Amp. He twirled it around himself and tried to hit Zeus with it again, only for the battleaxe bearing conduit to block it, and use his axe to turn it towards the ground. Calvin used to opportunity to land a headbutt on Zeus, but the older conduit returned the headbutt, landing it right on Calvins nose and causing him to roll backwards away from him from the force. With blood now dribbling from his left nostril, Calvin charged at Zeus once again, but the older conduit dissolved his own battleaxe, caught Calvins' Amp mid-swing, and kicked back Calvin, yanking the weapon out of his grasp.

"A nice weapon," commented Zeus, and powered it up with his own red and violet energy. "Mind if I try it?" Calvin wasn't given even a second to respond, as Zeus zipped forward, ramming the end of the Amp into Calvins' abdomen. He then jabbed the weapon in the same manner to Calvins' chin, then his shins, back, head, simply bludgeoning Calvin at this point with his own weapon.

"Calvin!" Katrina screamed, summoning Sektors gauntlets and punching the magic barrier. Calvin, oozing blood from his mouth and smoking from most of his body, set himself on his knees, looking up at Zeus with a black and swollen eye,

"I'm afraid there was no real way you could have won this," said Zeus, smashing the Amp against the ground, shattering it to pieces, "My power, the energy I can hold, would make you look like a double A battery. I have so much in me, and I'm not even using most of it!" Something then clicked in Calvins' head, and he thought back, back to an insignificant day in class...

Several weeks ago...

"Mr. Damon!" Called the general science teacher, "Could you tell the class how many times a day lightning strikes the earth?" Damon didn't answer, for he was too busy trying to roll a blunt under his desk during class. "Mr. Damon." The white haired devil, having just finished with his blunt, looked up at the teacher,

"Waterloo!" The teacher brought a palm to his face,

"Fucking class clown..." he muttered, "Anybody got a good guess at how many times lightning strikes earth?" Adrian rose up his hand,

"Aproximately eight million times per day."

"Very good Mr. Michaels," said the teacher, "and with the earth being one gigantic conductor, that means...Calvin?" The devil conduit perked up, and gave his thoughts,

"I'm guessing that means there is a shit-ton of electricity zipping around underground without being used?"

"Watch your language, but yes," said the teacher.

Present...

Calvin stuck his fingers in the ground, attempting to see if he could feel any electricity below,

Now or never,he thought to himself, and used his power drain in the ground, feeling nothing, only seeing Zeus walking around him, forming his battleaxe once again.

"I wish it didn't have to come down to this," said Zeus, "but I'm afraid there is no other way." He twirled his axe, ready to deliver the killing blow, and that's when Calvin felt it, like a tiny heartbeat deep below the earth. He used his drain power once again, and felt himself pulling to power closer and closer to the surface, right as Zeus was about to bring the axe down on Calvins' head...

Calvin brought his hand up, catching the axe, the power he felt below coursing into his body and not stopping for a second. He looked up at Zeus, his bruised and bloodied body healing, his upper torso turned bright blue, while his eyes turned piercing white.

"What the hell...? Murmered Zeus, while most of the devils looked at Calvin in utter surprise, except for Katrina, who bore a smile,

"He did it!" She said to herself, "He got his own Balance Breaker!" Calvin rose to his feet, still gripping the electric battleaxe, and quickly absorbed the energy that made it, dissolving it. Zeus then zipped to him, trying to land a punch to Calvin, but the young conduit caught his fist, countered Zeus' punch with one of his own, kicked him in the abdomen, launched him back several feet, and in a fashion like Kessler and Zeus, he zipped to the evil conduit, unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks onto him. Zeus manages to slip back a step, and sent a red and violet shockwave at Calvin, but his blue skin absorbed the shockwave harmlessly.

"WHAT?! I never had that ability before!" Shouted Zeus.

"And you never will," said Calvin, zipping to Zeus and landing a punch to Zeus' jaw, sending him flying. Zeus set himself into a kneel, and Calvin approached him,

"Game over Zeus, you got no power that I don't already have." Calvin wrinkled his brow in confusion as Zeus began to laugh,

"Is that what you think?" Zeus then zipped to Calvin, and the young conduit felt something pierce his stomach. He looked down, and could not believe his eyes.

His arm had morphed into a white blade, shaped like Adrians!