AN: Ugh, this turned out to be harder to write then I thought... but that's less because of the chapter and more because of myself. I strained some muscles in my lower left back last week, so my entire left waist is stiff as a board. Its a bit hard to sit down for lengthy periods of time, and I've been walking with a minor limp for the past few days. Thankfully it's getting better, but that combined with a small stint of the dreaded writer's block I had this week is the reason why I mentioned yesterday on my profile that this chapter might have been late by a day.
Thankfully, that didn't happen! However, due to aforementioned straining of my body (that I did by bending over to grab something out of my fridge... I'm not joking, I don't know why that was where my body drew the line.) this chapter is a bit on the short side. In case you didn't know, I try to keep each chapter between 8k to 12k words, with 10k being the norm. This one is only a few hundred over the 8k, so its kind of more on the minimal side.
Moving on, here are the review responses:
Linkonpark 100: Oi, don't say things you know are true!
Faithful Reader: Because sometimes I like to taunt my readers with cliffhangers.
Chrisxdon: Glad you enjoyed it! While in game most characters are "balanced", in the lore Syndra is regarded as being borderline omnipotent. As for Noxus, Isaac wouldn't do too bad with intrigue, seeing how he doesn't trust anyone as it is. Yes, we had some POVs with Kat a while back, but right now the focus is on Isaac and Ionia, not Katarina and Noxus.
Now, the battle for the Placidium continues!
The Placidium, Ionia
"How is he?"
Soraka looked up at Irelia and gave her a nod. "He'll make it."
Good… Irelia felt relief wash over her as Soraka returned her attention to Archangel's body. He was lying on his back in a pool of his own blood with his helmet's visor up. The gaping hole in his chest had a green glow around it as Soraka worked her magic.
Archangel's chest convulsed violently, as he leaned his head over to the side and coughed up blood. He groaned and muttered some kind of curse before coughing up another round of blood. He tried to get up, again, but Syndra had his four limbs restrained with her magic.
Ezreal, who was kneeling nearby grimaced. "He's coughing up blood!"
"Of course he is!" Syndra snapped. "He's got a fucking hole in his chest!"
Soraka shushed them both as she knelt next to Archangel, her hands together in prayer as she weaved her healing magic to close his wound. Behind her was Sona, strumming away on her Etwahl as she too healed the wounded meta-human.
"Irelia." A voice caught Irelia's attention. She turned away from the others to face the one addressing her. Behind her stood Akali.
"Report."
"Galio, Shyvana, and Ahri are pursing the sniper." Akali nodded. "My fellow ninja and I have finished scouting out the rest of the Placidium." She shook her head. "It's not good. There's still pockets of resistance holding out, but they won't last much longer."
Irelia sighed, she brought a hand up to rub her temple, but stopped when she saw that said hand was covered in blood.
"Shen and Kennen remained behind with the others to help the survivors." Akali continued. "It looks like most of the non-combatants have taken to hiding in their homes, but it doesn't appear the Ascension are even bothering with them."
"They're not kidnapping people?" Irelia asked, confused. Then what are they after? Was this an occupation attempt?
Akali shook her head. "No. Instead, we've seen them looting. Some of the magic schools we checked had been ransacked. Nearly every artifact had been taken, and every scroll had disappeared."
Irelia heard Syndra scoff behind her. "Yeah, and then there's THAT!"
Irelia glanced over her shoulder to see what Syndra meant, and saw her pointing up at something. Irelia followed the finger and saw three of the larger Ascension aircraft flying away, each one dangling one of the Placidium's floating mana-crystals underneath.
Irelia bit her lower lip. They're sacking the place… they're not interested in holding the Placidium, they're just trying to grab anything they can find!
But why?
"… On Earth, just before I arrived here, me and my team found a crate full of mana. Mana doesn't exist on Earth…"
Irelia heard those words in her head again. The words Archangel had spoke to her when they had first met and debated on what the Ascension could be after.
She watched the Ascension aircraft fly out of sight with their ill-gotten gains.
Mana… they really were after mana…
Irelia glanced around. Her soldiers were storming through the gates and were advancing through the Placidium. The Ascension had given up the gate so easily… why?
Because they don't plan on holding the Placidium… they're buying time to finish looting everything!
She tilted her head back and looked up to the pinnacle of the Placidium. Up top the tallest Nexus, were some of the most celebrated locations in Ionia… home to countless artifacts with massive floating mana-crystals that adorned the tallest pillars.
Half of which were gone…
"Akali." Irelia looked back to her friend. "Take whoever you need and get to the top of the Placidium as fast as you can and secure it."
The female shinobi bowed and then vanished.
We'll need to push forwards quickly! I know we're still battling outside the city, but we need to drive the Ascension out of the Placidium as fast as possible. Irelia thought. Given they they're trying to stall us, the Ascension probably have ambushes set up everywhere.
The Placidium had multiple levels and nexuses… it was easy for defenders to launch ambushes. It worked wonders for the Ionians during the Noxus invasion.
I just never thought those defensive positions would be used against us…
She heard a commotion behind her, and causing Irelia to look back at Archangel and the others.
"I'm fine… I'm fine!" Archangel coughed, trying to struggle against Syndra's restraints. The wound on his chest was almost fully closed, and the color in Archangel's face was returning.
"Stop complaining!" Syndra snarled at him, earning one back from Archangel.
"Bitch please! YOU would complain about how you hated being restrained all the time!"
Irelia rolled her eyes as Archangel and Syndra argued. At least his attitude was back… that's a good sign.
"Archangel." Irelia took a step forward and addressed him. "How are you feeling?"
Archangel's grey eyes turned to Irelia, his snarl disappearing and his expression turning into a deadpan. "I just got my chest blown open… but otherwise I'm great."
… Hmm, maybe that wasn't the best question.
"There." Soraka sighed, relaxing as the green light disappeared from her hands and from Archangel's exposed and scarred chest. "The damage has been healed."
Syndra relaxed her hand and the restraints around Archangel vanished. The outworlder's first reaction was to run a hand across his healed chest and the new scar he had. Irelia watched with curiosity as Archangel's armor started to repair itself, slowly covering up the exposed skin as it clawed itself back together.
Curious… I'd heard his armor repairs itself, but seeing it firsthand… its quite surprising.
Odd though… how the armor didn't seem to bother repairing scratches and small chips of the like that were scattered up and down Archangel's suit.
Archangel nodded and sat up with a small grimace. "Ugh… thanks Doc…. Again."
Soraka gave him a smile. "Your welcome, but again, I'm no doctor."
Archangel shrugged in response, clearly not caring about terminology. He slowly got to his feet, but clearly struggled a bit. Ezreal quickly helped him, and his other side was flanked by Lee Sin. Rather then get annoyed, Archangel gave both men a nod and muttered a thanks.
"Are you able to keep fighting?" Irelia asked, although from what she knew about Archangel thus far… she already knew the answer.
Archangel reached up and slapped his visor back down into place, giving him his usual cold and emotionless appearance again.
"Do you even need to ask?" He responded.
"I'm starting to sense a pattern here Isaac…" Mute sighed from her usual spot in her HUD.
"Oh?" Isaac rolled his eyes, tightening his grip on the assault rifle he picked up from a dead shock trooper a few minutes ago.
He won't be needing it anymore.
"Yeah… it seems that you have a tendency to almost get killed the day after you get laid."
Isaac sighed. "Ok… that's a shitty pattern that you and you alone are seeing."
"I'm just saying." Mute rolled her eyes. "Or are you getting off at the thought that you're shaving years off my life every few weeks?"
Isaac just ignored her. It's not like he fucking KNEW that sniper was going to be there.
Instead his eyes drifted upwards to the rooftops of the tightly packed buildings that lined each side of the narrow street he walked down. Somehow, he had found himself leading a group of twenty-five Ionian soldiers to try and clear a path ahead to the second level of the Placidium.
There are several ways into the next level… best to try them all instead of funneling the entire army down one narrow, easy to ambush, path.
That had been Irelia's reasoning behind splitting everyone up, and Isaac could only agree.
The boss-lady herself had taken the largest group with Soraka and Syndra. The former because she's an amazing doctor, the latter to probably keep an eye on because trust issues don't disappear after just one battle. Lee Sin and Varus went together down a different path, while Isaac on the other hand…
"Hey, Arch?" He heard Ezreal whisper from his right. "How you are holding up?"
Isaac wanted to roll his eyes, again! He was fine… he'd said it a hundred times already. But he wasn't a big enough arse to not get why people were worried about him. He HAD just taken what would've been a fatal injury anywhere on Earth.
Magic… such a cheat-sheet… not that I should complain…
Isaac sighed as Mute's avatar vanished, and he turned his external speakers back on. "I'm fine. Not the first time I've been shot, and sure as shit won't be the last."
Ezreal wasn't the only one with him, Sona flanked his left. She and her string instrument were somehow floating off the ground and keeping perfect pace with them all.
Magic… such a cheat-sheet!
He risked a quick glance over his shoulder and checked on the troops he somehow found himself leading. It was awkward, seeing how little the Ionians cared for him.
Thankfully, it seemed discipline won out, since the soldiers Irelia had put him in charge hadn't said a word of disapproval… aside from some grumblings at the onset.
He was glad to see that they had taken his initial instructions of "keep an eye on the rooftops and check every possible corner" to heart. The soldiers had their heads on swivels, and were looking around every possible nook, in every window, and scanned the rooftops as they made their way down the street.
Thankfully, they hadn't run into anything yet… but they could still hear the sounds of the battle being fought everywhere else.
Judging by the distant explosions, I'm going to assume they're still fighting had outside the city…
Isaac looked ahead again, still scanning about. He had no bloody idea where to go in this city. The last time he was here was with Akali and she pretty much led him around by the hand back then. Thankfully one of the soldiers in the group knew exactly where to go, and had given him directions.
Speaking of that green ninja… I haven't seen her or any of her supposed friends yet…
Maybe they were off doing ninja stuff?
Doesn't matter right now.
Isaac instead turned his attention to Mute.
"Hey, Mute? Any idea who managed to punch my ticket back there?" He asked, making sure his external speaker was off before asking. He moved around a fallen piece of debris, rifle aimed at the other side as he passed. Instead of an Ascension soldier, he saw a dead Ionian soldier… with half of his body stuck under the stone debris.
Lower body totally crushed… he either died from shock or blood loss. Terrible way to go… I should know! I just about did that a fucking half-hour ago!
"I caught a glimpse of someone on a rooftop that may have been your sniper. But you weren't looking at him long enough for me to get a full scan off." Mute replied. Her avatar didn't appear, likely because she knew he needed his field of view right now.
Figures… damn it.
Isaac hoped it was just a nameless sniper… although he knew better then that. Sure, he was likely one of the most powerful members of this army… but he was by no means the most important. If the Ascension wanted to demoralize the army, they would've shot either Irelia or Soraka. Not to mention whoever had shot him had hit him with a rifle powerful enough to penetrate his armor like it was a rotten plank of wood. The round had shattered most of his ribs and his heart, and if it wasn't for Soraka he would've died moments later.
Not only did Soraka heal me, but her magic was able to find all the fragments of the bullet and remove them… if she was on Earth she'd be the world's richest doctor.
All in all, someone had singled him out… that meant one thing.
"It was a meta-human, it had to be…" Isaac muttered to himself.
Mute didn't rebuff his answer.
Only question was… who? There was a sadly a long list of meta-humans in the Ascension… a list far longer then the list of TRANS-Ops meta-humans.
His thought process was interrupted when he heard a massive roar.
"What was that?!" An Ionian soldier voiced Isaac's unsaid question.
"That sounded like…" Ezreal's voice this time. "Shyvana?"
Huh… that did have a dragon-roar feel to it…
Isaac emerged from the street and into a larger space… likely some kind of town square.
"Sounded close…" Isaac muttered as he scanned his surroundings, before he raised his voice loud enough for everyone to hear him. "Be ready for-"
He was rudely interrupted by a loud sound of something impacting against something above him. Isaac's head snapped upwards and he saw Shyvana in her dragon form on the rooftop above him, stumbling off the side…
And knocking a whole tone of stone debris down towards him.
Shit! Time slow!
Isaac activated the power that didn't relay on an inhibitor in his brain. As the world around him slowed down to a crawl, Isaac turned around and shoved Ezreal into a soldier behind him to knock both men out of the path of the falling debris. He turned to Sona and did the same, and then followed up with pushing what he hoped would be the last soldier to in the way as well.
He felt the world around him start to fade away and he grimaced. He wouldn't have enough time to get back!
Instead, Isaac kicked off the ground and tumbled in opposite direction as he let go of his powers.
The world resumed its status quo, and Isaac hit the cobblestone road hard and rolled away… the massive slabs of debris slamming into the ground where he was moments before.
He heard several alarmed shouts as he rolled back to his feet with a small grimace.
Not my best landing… that's for sure.
He heard another loud noise and looked back the way he had come… only to see the building that Shyvana had slammed into start to collapse into the street.
Oh shit.
Isaac leapt back away as more debris rolled towards him. He heard more shouting coming from the way he came, and he could've sworn he heard Ezreal swearing.
Dust clouded his vision, but Isaac could see what had once been a small pile of debris was now a massive one courtesy of the collapsed building. He was completely cut off from everyone else.
Of fucking course!
"Well… isn't this par for the course." Mute sighed.
Isaac rolled his eyes at the sheer shittiness of his luck as he reached down to pick up his rifle, waving one hand in front of his visor to clear the dust out of his sight.
Only to see a blue and red blur fly over him, narrowly missing his head.
What the fuck?!
Isaac snatched his rifle up and snapped his head back to see whatever the fuck it was that had almost taken his head off. Isaac could only feel surprise when he saw that the blur had been Shyvana, now in her human form. She hit the ground hard behind him and rolled several times, her two weapons going flying in different directions as she let out a slew of grunts and colorful curses.
…. What?
"Heh… heh… heh…" Isaac heard a feminine yet sinister laughter coming from in front of him. He snapped his head back to look ahead, rifle's sights to his visor. He peered through the dust cloud in front of him and could make out the silhouette of a slender figure… a figure that was slowly walking towards him with a sway in her hips.
"Mute?" Isaac asked as he took a few cautious steps back. His partner's scanner appeared his HUD and highlighted the figure.
"Got it!" Mute exclaimed, however her voice quickly trailed off. "Oh… oh..."
"What? What's oh?" Isaac didn't need this right now!
However, before Mute answered the silhouette became visible, and Isaac instantly realized why Mute suddenly had become unenthusiastic as the words appeared in his HUD.
WARNING: META-HUMAN
The meta-human who likely just finished kicking Shyvana to the curb stepped out of the dust cloud, revealing a the slender figure of a woman. She was clad in the typical Ascension battle armor for meta-humans, but it appeared to be a little more on the slender side. Plus it had been given some personalization, such as a few pieces of red ribbon that had been tied around her upper arms and legs. She had long red hair flowing down behind her back, and she was currently breaking one of Isaac's most sacred rules: going into battle without a helmet on.
Due to said lack of helmet, Isaac got a clear look at her face… an attractive yet almost completely pale-white feminine face.
I've… seen this woman before…
She emerged from the dust with her eyes closed, waving one hand around in front of her face to ward off the dust.
Isaac's attention was immediately drawn to said hand… specifically because it wasn't normal. Both her arms, from the elbows down, were robotic. Unlike Starscream's though, her robotic parts laid to bare, and were a shinny silver that clashed with her dark blue armor.
"Heh, heh… ah… ah… ACHOO! Ugh! Damn dust!" The woman sneezed and opened her eyes, revealing a pair of heterochromia eyes: one bright yellow and the other blood red.
"Maybe I should've worn… that… hel… met…" Her voice trailed off completely when she saw Isaac standing in front of her with his rifle aimed right at her head. Her expression went from complacent to surprised.
…. Seriously…? HER?!
Isaac and Mute let out a synchronized groan as the face of the one in front of them broke out into a massive smile, revealing her pearly white shark-like teeth.
"ISAAC!" Mania practically shouted, her voice full of glee.
"NOPE!" Isaac actually shouted, his voice full of denial. He pulled the trigger on his assault rifle and held it down.
Sparks emitted off the front of Mania's head as the bullets hit an invisible wall in front of her face, saving her from having dozens of rounds ripping through her skull.
She's got an energy shield… of fucking course she does!
Why couldn't she be like a normal lunatic and not bother with the shield!?
Mania charged at him, closing the gap in less then a second and kicked Isaac's rifle off to the side. Isaac responded by letting the weapon fall and lashed out with a left hook, only to have Mania duck under it and respond with a spinning sideways kick. Isaac grunted as her armored boot hit him square in the stomach, causing him to stumble back a few feet.
Isaac took several steps back and drew his two swords, dropping into a fighting stand. Mania responded by dropping down in a crouching stance with one leg out to the side and one hand on the ground, her body bending down in a way that only gymnastic professionals could.
"Ooooohhh this is GRRRRREAT!" Mania laughed loudly. "I've been waiting soooooooooo long to see you again!"
She gave another giggle, letting her abnormally several-foot long tongue dangle out of her shark tooth mouth for a moment before drawing it back in with a loud slurping noise.
Fuck me… it just HAD to be THIS lunatic I run into!
Mute groaned. "I don't think I have to remind you to be careful around her… right?"
Isaac sighed. "No… no you don't."
This wasn't going to be his first fight with Mania… although he had hoped their last encounter had been just that.
Mania's hair can be either hardened to the point it's like steel, or sharpened into razor edges. She can also shrink and grow it at will.
She was also incredibly fast. Her natural agility and reaction time was even better then Isaac's, and his was already top notch among meta-humans.
And since I currently can't reinforce my strength and speed with dark matter… shit!
This… this was not going to be an easy fight.
Mania suddenly stood back upright, causing Isaac to flinch in response in preparation for an attack. Strangely enough, rather then attack Mania raised her hands up in front of her face and started waving them around.
"OH! Do you like them?! I had to get these AWWWESOME robotic ones since, well you know!" Her voice full of energy as she showed off her robotic arms. "I mean, I know black's your color and all, so if the silver's an issue, I can just spray paint them later!"
Her behaviour reminded Isaac of a hyperactive child doing show and tell… which was a little endearing.
Or at least would be… if the one currently exhibiting said behaviour wasn't a total fucking lunatic who had murdered hundreds of people during the Ascension War.
Isaac debated on even responding to the stark raving mad woman. Unfortunately for his own sanity, Mania took his second of silence as a hint to keep running her mouth. She tilted her head to the side and grabbed her hair with one hand to bring it closer to her as if she was showing it off.
"Oh! And I knooooow how you have a thing for girls with long hair! I mean, I got that right, right?!" Her smile never faded as she spoke, showing off her razor-sharp teeth. "Liiiiike… that's why Kasumi always had long hair… rig- OOPS!"
Mania let go of her hair and swatted both swords out of the air with inhuman speed, courtesy of her unnatural reaction time. Rather then frown at Isaac's sudden attack, her smile got even larger, although it appeared slightly apologetic somehow.
"Heh, heh… sorry, touchy subject?" She giggled. "I mean… if you want you can call me by her name when you're riding me. It won't bother me at allllllll! I swear!"
Isaac snarled at her. FUCK she pissed him off.
Should've cut her fucking tongue off when I had the chance!
"You couldn't even pay me to sleep with you, you fucking crazy bitch!" Isaac spat at her.
If his words hurt her at all, she showed no sign. Instead, she only furthered to vex him when she took a relaxed pose with one hand on her waist.
"Oh? Well, hate fucking's fine by me…" She shrugged, still sporting a toothy crazy grin that would have fit perfectly on Jinx's face. "Meh, not like you'll reeeeealy get a choice. The others want to kill you, but I simply looooove you too much to do that."
"Isaac…" Mute's voice was the only calm thing around him. "Please! I know she's infuriating, but she's only trying to taunt you."
I…. I know… fuck…
Isaac took a deep breath in and focused. Normally someone mentioning Kasumi's name doesn't provoke him to the point he throws his fucking swords at someone… but when the one throwing his former fiancé's name out works for the faction who murdered her…
Yeah… it's going to anger him.
Even more so when the one doing it was pretty much his arch-nemesis during the same war that Kasumi died in.
Isaac grabbed his last two arming swords and took up another stance. Mania got the hint and dropped back down into the stance she had before.
"Allllrighty then!" Mania smiled at him in a way that was clearly not friendly. "Weeeeee can do this the hard way too." She chuckled. "Beeeesides, I still owe you for all those times back in the Ascension War!"
And with that she charged at him.
Isaac darted to the side, causing Mania's drop kick to narrowly pass him by. Isaac slashed to the side, aiming at the back of Mania's head, but his opponent twirled around and battered his sword aside with her arm.
Which, to Isaac's surprise, had transformed into a blade.
Oh shit…
Isaac leaned back, dodging Mania's punch as he parried her other arm's sword. He had to leap back from her again when her hair tried to wrap around his leg.
Fuck!
She was just too fast, and Isaac was at major disadvantage without his dark matter powers.
So… I take away that advantage.
Mania lunged at him again, but rather then move out of the way, Isaac dropped down and shoulder rammed Mania's legs. The redhead grunted in pain as she flipped over Isaac, landing on her back. He quickly turned around and brought his left arm down to stab her face, only to have Mania's hair lash up and wrap around his left arm.
Shit!
Isaac felt Mania's hair tighten around his arm, preventing him from pulling away. Instead, Isaac slashed with his free hand, trying to cut her hair. The blade hit Mania's hair, but bounced off.
"Hah!" Mania let out a whoop and Isaac felt something grab his leg. He glanced down and saw a silver robotic arm grasping his ankle.
Ah shit.
Isaac grunted as Mania pulled his leg out from underneath him, sending him down to the ground on his ass. He scrambled to recover, but Mania still had his left arm in her hair's grasp.
The Ascension meta-human kicked herself up into a crouching position and dove at Isaac, sending them both back to the ground.
The two rolled on the ground, causing Isaac to drop his blades. They ended up with Mania on top, straddling him. Her hair still enveloped his left arm, while she managed to grab his right arm and pin it to the ground.
Leaving Isaac completely vulnerable… and Mania's shit eating grin let him know that she knew it too.
Her free arm shifted back from a blade into a hand, which she curled into a fist and rammed into his visor.
Isaac grunted as his head was knocked backwards into the ground from the impact, causing his vision to daze slightly.
"Onnnne!" Mania shouted with a smile, before smashing her metal fist into his visor again. "Twwwwo!"
"Mute?!" Isaac shouted. "CAN I?!"
Can I please fucking use my powers?! Or am I totally screwed right now!?
Whatever Mute said was drowned out by the sound of Mania shouting "Thrrrrree!" combined with the sound of Isaac's visor cracking.
Fuck it! I'd rather die here then be captured by the Ascension! Most of all fucking Mania!
Isaac was about to unleash his powers, consequences be damned, when he heard a feral scream.
Mania clearly heard it too because she stopped mid punch, bolting her head upright, with her smile vanishing for the first time.
"Oh shit." She muttered, with an expression to match.
And that was all she got to say, as Shyvana's fist-weapon slammed into Mania's unprotected face. The redhead meta-human was launched off Isaac's body, losing her grip on him. She hit the cobblestone road several feet away and rolled on the ground for a few more feet before coming to a stop. Her body motionless.
….. Well… ok then…
Isaac sat up, holding his head in one hand and picking up one of his fallen swords with the other. He could already feel the headache coming on.
"You ok?" He heard Shyvana ask, sounding concerned for once instead of the usual hostility her voice had when she talked to him.
"Y-yeah…" Isaac groaned, letting his head go and picking up another one of his swords with his other hand. He stood up and threw a look over his shoulder at his saviour.
Shyvana looked like she had seen better days. Her blue skin was noticeably darker in some spots, clear signs of bruising, and the skin around her left eye was already starting to swell. One of the massive horns on her helmet was missing, either ripped off or cut off, and there were several chips in her armor all over the place.
In short… she looked like shit.
The two of them looked back over at Mania… who was clearly knocked the fuck out.
Good. Fucking. Riddance.
"What are you doing out here by yourself?" Shyvana asked. Isaac responded by pointing a sword at the collapsed building to the side, earning an "oh" in response from the half-dragon.
"What about you?"
"I was with Galio and Ahri." Shyvana took a few steps forward and stood next to Isaac. "Until that crazy bitch showed up."
Isaac sighed. "Glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks she's a lunatic."
Shyvana scoffed. "I had a hard time telling if she's worse then Jinx or not."
"Worse…" Isaac sighed, "Trust me, she's worse."
The cracks in his visor were almost fully repaired. However, at the rate this battle had been going, his suit couldn't take much more.
Funny… Mania and Jinx are pretty similar… now that I think about it… minus the whole shark teeth thing.
"I believe I resent that! I for one think we're alllllmost exactly alike!"
…
"What?"
"Huh?"
Isaac froze for a moment, dumbfounded. Judging by Shyvana's reaction, he wasn't the only one to hear that.
He looked back at Mania's supposedly unconscious body… and saw that she was still lying where she had fallen.
Only that she had one arm straight up in the air with her pointer finger extended.
…. How…? What?
Isaac couldn't believe his eyes and Mania stumbled back to her feet, before turning around and glaring at Shyvana, the smile on her face was noticeably more ridged then before.
"HEY! Dragon bitch! Can't you get the hint that you're not wanted!?" She rolled her mismatched eyes before raising a robotic hand to snap her jaw back and forth. "But holy shit, you can pack a punch…"
Isaac blinked twice. He wasn't seeing this... there was no way.
Mania had just taken a full on hit from Shyvana to the face… the kind of hit that could and had cracked his visor before…
And Mania was standing up without so much as a scratch on her face.
Before he could ask Mute for any kind of hint, he saw the air around Mania flash once, revealing a sphere of red energy around her body. It lingered for half a second before vanishing.
… She's got a magic barrier…. Of fucking course she does…
Isaac bit his lower lip. He should've seen that coming.
Right… Altar had a mana-suit of some kind… only makes sense for Mania to have some other kind of magic defence…
Shyvana must have noticed it too, because she growled and spread her legs out, arms and weapons raised.
Mania stood without so much of a care in the world, taking up a relaxed pose with her arms crossed.
"Hey! Dragonborn! Don't you have some shouting to do somewhere?!" She scowled at Shyvana for a moment before she gave a them a big smirk. "Isaac and I are having a bit of a reunion here!"
You're the only one whose enjoying this…
"Isaac?" Shyvana tilted her head to the side, before she looked back at Isaac with a confused expression. "YOU?!"
….
….
Oh fuck she just used my real name in front of…
Isaac's eye twitched. Ok… that pissed him off.
He got even more pissed off when Mania gasped and held her hands in front of her face in mock shock... or very real shock, since she's a fucking lunatic.
"Oh! Sorry Isaac! I forgot about the whole real names are supposed to be a secret thing!" She lowered her hands to reveal her completely unapologic smile. "Maybe I can make it up to you in bed later? Or hell, we can fuck right here! I wouldn't mind giving off a show!"
Mute groaned the loudest Isaac had ever heard her. "Oh, can you JUST duct-tape HER MOUTH SHUT?!" She yelled, before sighing again. "Or… at least turn me off?!"
… Would if I could… oh… would IF I COULD!
…
The whole duct-tape part that is… no Mute, if I have to suffer hearing Mania's voice, you sure as shit are suffering with me!
Isaac took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down… attacking Mania in a berserker rage while he was at a significantly weaker strength level was not going to end well.
Shyvana's head snapped to Mania, back to Isaac, to Mania, and back to Isaac.
"Wait… you and her…?"
… Ok, I'm putting an end to this. My reputation is shit enough as it is, I'm not having it pile-drived into the ground due to the words of madwoman!
"No!" Isaac growled, "You think I'd sleep with someone THAT CRAZY?!"
"Cough, Jinx, cough." Mute muttered.
Shut up Mute! Not now!
Mania sighed loudly, taking a dramatic pose with one arm resting on her forehead as she leaned back in sorrow. "Ohhhhhh woe is me! Forever unrequited love!"
Isaac noticed Shyvana shuffling from one foot to the other… the way she stood and the way she looked back at Isaac showed that she clearly felt out of place.
He. Did not. Blame her.
"So…" Shyvana began, clearly unsure as to what to do.
Isaac sighed. A battlefield was NOT the place for this kind of talk...
"You see her robotic arms?" He motioned towards the crazy redhead with a sword.
"Y-yeah…?"
"She has those because I cut her arms off during the Ascension War."
Mania dropped her dramatic pose and held her arms out in front of her. "YEAH! I mean, I don't know much about romance, but even I know that cutting someone's arms off is a reeeeeeeally odd way of showing someone you love them, but I accept you nonetheless Isaac!"
Isaac blinked once, before shouting across the square at her. "I. CUT. YOUR. FUCKING. ARMS. OFF. YOU. FUCKING. LUNATIC!"
Mania tilted her head to the side, still grinning but seemingly confused. "Yooooooour point? Was that a rejection? Because I sure as shit wasn't listening!"
…
Isaac looked back to Shyvana, who was looking back at him wearing the same "what the fuck?" expression he was.
Isaac sighed. "Like I said… worse then Jinx."
"Are ALL the Ascension soldiers like this?"
"God, I hope not…"
I hope she doesn't question the fact I didn't actually confirm or deny that.
Shyvana looked like she wanted to say something, but Isaac noticed Mania suddenly dropping down into the crouching-combat stance she had before. Shyvana must have noticed how he had titled his head away from her, because she quickly looked back at Mania and shuffled her feet to get back in her own ready stance.
"Looooook, as much as I'd like to drag this out..." Mania chuckled again, "I reeeeaally need to capture Isaac before the others do, because, you know, they wanna kill him. Soooooo She-Hulk, you mind pissing off somewhere?"
Shyvana clearly had enough of Mania's shit, because she let out a loud growl and charged at Mania.
"No wai- fuck!" Isaac cursed. They needed to work together!
God damn hot head!
Isaac cursed as he ran after her.
Shyvana leapt at the smiling Mania, who proceeded to do Shyvana what Isaac had done to her a few minutes ago. She dropped down low and hit Shyvana's legs, sending the larger half-dragon sailing over her. Isaac reached her next and he saw both her arms shifted into blades.
Isaac slashed downwards, where Mania parried it and retaliated with a high roundhouse kick. Isaac ducked under it and slashed down at her other leg, where his sword connected with her knee. Sadly, and unsurprisingly, it glanced off her armor. Isaac rolled to the side to dodge a feral swing by Mania, who let out a creepy giggle as she did so. He came back up onto his feet as Mania kicked at his ribs.
Isaac grunted as he felt her armored boot strike him under the arm, but he had let her. He lowered his arm and held her leg there against his ribs, smirking to himself when she tried to pull it away and couldn't. Isaac spotted a small weak point in her armor just above her knee, and slashed down at it.
"HAH!" Mania shouted as she threw both her arms out at him, her arm-blades disassembling into pieces held together by a cord, wrapping them around both his sword and his arm mid swing.
They're fucking snake blades?! Oh, what the fu-
That was as far Isaac's thoughts got when Mania jumped off the ground with her free leg, twisting her body and kicking him in the shoulder of the arm that he was using to pin her other leg. The impact caused him to lose his grip on her foot, releasing her. Mania used the moment to kick off him and backflip, pulling Isaac along with her due to having his arm tangled up.
Thankfully, Shyvana recovered from her earlier hit and charged at Mania from behind. The redhead landed with one foot on the ground and kicked out at Shyvana with her other, armored boot getting the dragon-woman right in the stomach. Shyvana's charge was halted in its tracks at the hit, but she quickly recovered and lunged at Mania.
"Ugh! So annoying!" Mania groaned as she ducked down and dodged Shyvana's attack. The snake-blade wrapped around Isaac's arm retracted, releasing him from it's vice.
Isaac grinned at her mistake, and dropped his sword, causing her to lose all hold of him. Sadly, it seemed Mania noticed because both her arms started to shift back into hands.
Mania bent her upper body back at an angle that shouldn't be possible for the human spine, dodging other hit from Shyvana. She straightened herself back out and kicked Shyvana in the side of the ribs, kicking off into the air with her other leg and twirled her body around to face Isaac with a grin, just in time to bat away a swing with her hand.
She landed back on the ground and upper cut Shyvana in the chin, knocking her back for a moment before she bent her body sideways to kick at Isaac, who dodged it.
Isaac responded with a kick of his own, aimed at her stomach, but Mania caught his foot and threw it to the side. He maintained his balanced and spun around, slashing at the back of Mania's leg, only for her hair to lash downwards and block it for her as she was too preoccupied with Shyvana.
For fuck sakes! This wouldn't be as much of a piss off… If. She. Just. Stopped. SMILING!
Isaac tried to hit her again, only to be blocked yet again and be forced to dodge a fist aimed at his head. Mania turned her back to him to catch one of Shyvana's swings with her metal hand, before kicking off her and twisting her body to face Isaac. Isaac tried to stab at her midflight, but Mania swatted his sword away, smashing her body into Isaac and wrapping her arms and legs around him.
Isaac snarled when his vision was filled with Mania's shit eating grin of a face, and all her inhuman teeth to bare.
"Why helllllo there…" She giggled, before using her abnormally long tongue to lick his visor. "Imagine what this could do to your other head… eh?"
"Ewww…." Mute groaned.
Isaac replied to Mania's flirt in the most logical way possible. He jerked his head forward and headbutted Mania right in the face.
"Gah!" Mania cursed and uncurled herself off of Isaac, dropping down out of his sight.
And his view of Mania's face was replaced with a close-up of Shyvana's weapon.
Huh… déjà vu…
Isaac grit his teeth in pain as Shyvana's oversized brass knuckles slammed into his visor, sending him stumbling backwards with stars in his eyes.
He heard Shyvana curse loudly, but whatever she said was cut off by a scream of pain as Mania used her transformed arm-blade to slash at her rib cage.
"Wow…" Mute sighed as Isaac hit the street and rolled back up to his feet. "You guys are getting your asses handed to you…"
"NOT COMMENTS FROM THE SIDELINES!" Isaac shouted, pissed as all hell. Without his dark matter powers to boost his muscle structure, he couldn't keep up with Mania's reaction time and agility for shit!
Speaking of the devil, Mania was on the ground, lying on her side with an arm propping up her head. She had her back turned to Shyvana, who Isaac saw stumble back away from Mania. The half-dragon growled in pain as she dropped one of her weapons, a hand darting to the side of her torso where Isaac saw blood dripping onto the cobblestone.
She's not in a good position… not to mention she was injured before this fight.
Grr, where the hell are Ezreal and Sona?!
Mania's toothy grin only infuriated him all the more.
"Cooooome on!" She giggled. "I know you're holding back Isaac. Where are those dark matter powers of yours?!" She licked her lips. "Or are you saving your stamina for llllllater?"
Isaac had to bite his tongue to keep himself from screaming in frustration. Oh… what he would do to cut HER damn tongue off!
Forget all the shit I've put up with this last two weeks… I'd take all that crap every damn day if it got this crazy bitch to shut up!
Isaac tried to focus, but Shyvana's little friendly fire incident made it difficult. He shook his head to try and get rid of the stars that clouded his vision.
Come on… there's got to be a way to beat this bitch without my powers! I could time-slow, but that magic barrier of hers means I won't be able to a good shot in!
While he tried to think of something, he noticed Shyvana's head snap around to Mania with a look of pure rage.
Wait… I've seen that look before… back when she-
Shyvana let out a massive roar as her body flashed brightly, her body igniting, causing flames to spout out everywhere. Mania let out a yelp and rolled away, the flames roamed over her body causing her magic barrier to flash brightly as it protected her from the intense heat.
Isaac seized the chance that Shyvana had just given him. He dropped his short sword and grasped the hilt of his larger Demacian longsword. He tore the blade free of it's scabbard as fast as he could.
Since blades aren't working… Isaac adjusted his grip on the sword so that he was holding it by the blade. How about a mordschlag?!
He leapt at Mania as she scrambled to her feet, her back turned to Isaac since she had turned around to face the source of the flames.
Unlikely for Mania, she didn't have the whole sixth sense thing Isaac had.
Isaac delivered a horizontal murder-strike to the side of Mania's head, striking her skull with the crossguard as hard as he could. Her magic barrier held, but for some reason she reacted as if she had taken the blow unprotected.
Mania let out a loud grunt of pain as she stumbled to the side from the surprise attack. Isaac followed up with the hardest roundhouse kick he could muster, spinning his body around in a full three-sixty to get the extra momentum. His foot slammed into Mania's ribs, sending her off her feet with a cry of pain.
Never before, had someone's scream of pain sounded so good to Isaac's ears.
Mania hit the street on her side and rolled for several feet before she came up into a crouching position on her knees, with one hand on the ground to hold herself up and the other cradling the side of her head. She groaned in pain as strange sparks flashed around her body. Isaac took those flashes as a hint her magic barrier was almost broken.
"Oowwww…." Mania mumbled. She looked up at Isaac, still somehow maintaining her toothy smile, although it was obvious it was a little more forced as she grimaced in pain. "Shit… this is like that time in Korea all over again… huh?"
"Yeah…" Isaac adjusted his longsword in his hands to hold it proper way. "Only this time I'm taking more then your arms."
The massive roar he heard behind him made rethink his choice of words. He glanced over his shoulder and was greeted with the sight of Shyvana towering over him from behind in her full dragon form.
"I take it back…" Isaac found himself grinning. "SHE'S taking more then your arms."
Mania chuckled, causing Isaac to look back at her and brace himself for whatever she had coming at him. Instead, he saw Mania get to her feet and roll her neck, still smiling like the lunatic she was.
"Grrrrrrrreat... I'm getting fucked in every way but the way I want to." She chuckled. "Hey… Isaac?"
"Whatever you're about to ask, the answer is no."
Mania's smile turned into more of a smirk. "So… you won't look up?" She asked, pointing a robotic finger upwards.
Against his better judgment, Isaac looked up at the building behind her, his eyes going all the way up to the figure on the rooftop.
And he froze.
"J-Jinx…?" Isaac's voice was more of a whisper then anything else. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. The woman who had helped him out in the past, now clad in Ascension armor. But like Mania, she wore no helmet, letting her signature twin, blue, long braided hair flutter in the wind.
"Hey Archi!" Jinx let go of her minigun to give him a friendly wave, before her usual smile turned into a more sinister grin as she hefted her minigun up to aim at him. "Been awhile, hasn't it?"
Outside the Placidium, the battle raged on. The bodies of both Ionian and Ascension soldiers littered the battlefield, going ignored by the combatants that still fought on.
The barriers protecting the Ionian army from harm had collapsed, allowing the Stormhawk multi-role fighters to rain death down on the Ionians unhinged. However, the aircraft couldn't bomb the soldiers trapped in the melee for fear of hitting their own troops.
Instead, snipers positioned at the edge of the forest picked off Ionian troops who stood out in the bloody slaughter fest.
"That's twenty-four for me." One sniper chuckled as he picked off another Ionian soldier.
"Twenty-seven for me." His partner replied.
"Oh bullshit!"
"You should learn to reload faster!"
"YEAH! What he said!"
Both snipers froze. After a second's pause, the duo slowly turned away from their rifle's scopes to look behind them, where they spotted the source of the third voice.
Standing only a foot away and leaning on a tree, was a flamboyantly dressed half-man half-bird like creature of the like the two snipers had never seen. He stood chowing down on an apple, only pausing for a moment when he saw that the two snipers were staring at him.
"Oh, what's up you guys?" The bird-man waved, taking another bite for motioning with the apple towards the battlefield. "What's all that about out there?"
The snipers stared at the thing for a long three seconds before they looked at each other.
"Who the fuck is that?!"
"You mean what the fuck is that?!"
"Who me!?" The bird man pointed at himself, flabbergasted. After a moment he chuckled and stepped up to the two snipers, draping an arm around each man's shoulder. "Ah, worry not my brothers! You may call me Rakan!"
The two snipers were silent, so Rakan took that as a hint to continue.
"And let me guess your names..." His face contorted into one of deep thought, before he snapped his fingers. "Ah! I know!" He pointed to the one on his right. "You're First!"
His finger drifted to the other sniper. "You're Second!"
The sniper's exchanged a look.
"Ah… first and second what?" The one Rakan named First asked.
Rakan blinked, looking at First like he had just told him the moon was made out of cheese.
"Huh? Why first and second to die of course!"
…
"SHIT!" Second shouted as he scrambled for his side-arm, just as a pair of purple feathers hit his partner in the face, piercing through his visor. The one Rakan named second died before he could get the pistol out of it's hostler.
Rakan glanced from one dead soldier to the other, and nodded to himself before taking another bite from his apple.
"First and Second… really Rakan?" Xayah sighed as she wandered up behind Rakan. She waved her hand in the air and the feathers returned to her grasped.
"What? It turned out to be true!"
Xayah rolled her eyes, then glanced out at the battlefield. She stared at for a few moments before opening her mouth. "This looks… worse then I thought…"
"Yep…" Rakan nodded as he tossed the apple over his shoulder and fished out a horn from his belt.
"I can't believe we're doing this…" Xayah sighed and shook her head. "But at seeing the Placidium looking like that… I can understand now."
Rakan looked over his shoulder at his lover. "Hey, ready to be heroes?"
Xayah rolled her eyes as she pulled a matching horn out from behind her cloak. "Fine…"
And on that note the two Lhotlan freedom fighters blew their horns… the sound echoing throughout the forest. Those echoes were met by more horns being sounded… followed by a thundering roar.
"What's that sound?"
"Sniper teams, what's your status?"
"THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!"
"Report!"
"OH MY GOD THEY-"
"Report!"
"…"
"Report damn it!"
"Look out! Behind us!"
The Ascension soldiers at the rear of their army turned around at the warning that came out over the COM… but they were far too late. Out from the forest behind their lines came a new army, leaping out from the trees and charging towards the Ascension forces.
The Lhotlan had arrived.
AN: Next chapter will be posted on the 14th of November, and will (hopefully) the finale of the battle. I don't want to extend it for another chapter afterwards, but we'll see. Again, yes this chapter was a little shorter then the normal, but that's because if I continued it the thing would've ended on an awkward note... that and because my back hurts after sitting for several hours.
Anyhow, after the next update it'll be back to a bi-weekly update for an update or two, but the end goal is to establish a more proper weekly update schedule in the future.
In the event I'm unable to post a chapter on the 14th and have to postpone the update by a day or two, I'll have a note about it on my profile. So if there's a lack of notice there, then we're in the clear.