The ground trembled.
"W-what's that?! What's that pressure, this feeling?!"
Ignoring the panicking workers and members of the Heroes Association around him, Sweet Mask stared at the various screens hanging from the walls and the ceiling.
All of them focused on the battle taking place, some on the massive spaceship hanging above their heads, some on the gathered heroes below, and a scant few, mostly drone and satellite footage capturing images from above the spaceship, where a monstrously strong alien fought against—
"Devil…"
"P-pardon?"
Sweet Mask gripped the railing tighter, warping the cool smooth metal under his fingers as cool sweat dripped down his brow.
This pressure…
He had little doubts that its origins lay with Zero, the man's bulging almost feral form smashing blow after blow into the alien, with the invader giving as good as he got as they zipped into the vessel one second, only to burst out into an explosion of energy from somewhere near the other side of the structure in the next instant, a corona of power wrapping their forms as they danced through the air, their very blows seeming to create shock-waves which blew apart clouds and just straight up destroyed some of the nearest drones.
Gulping with a dry throat, he prayed, prayed to be wrong. Just this once. For the power pressing down on him even from such a distance, the power that both existed and not…
I have no hope of stopping him…
"Gkh!"
Tatsumaki, scowling, wincing, pushed with all her strength, erecting a shining emerald barrier in front of Grayfia and Fubuki, giving the two women the time to recoup and get back up on their feet.
"Oho?" the octopus said with a blink, tone musing. "Impressive little one, I dare say, between the two of you, you are the greater threat." the alien inclined his head and she could feel the impact the creature's words had on Fubuki.
"Don't underestimate my sister!" she growled, and dropping the barrier, she once again engaged in a contest of strength, of will, with the alien.
And regrettably, once again, and much to her bitter surprised, found herself wanting.
So. I found someone who is my match at last, eh?
"N-no! For my lord!" the alien shouted. His eyes glowed and Tatsumaki's own opened wide as she switched from attack to defense and, much to her horror, felt her barrier crack.
"Sister!" Only for Fubuki and Grayfia to flank her, and join their strength with hers. Fubuki with her own psychic might and the tall woman with something like a ki barrier.
"Ho?"
As the dust and ruined metallic floor in front of the trio settled, Tatsumaki panted, sweat dripping freely down her body.
No. Not my match. He's…he's stronger!
And yet, instead of rage, or terror?
A wide smile stretched across her lips.
'Thump! Thump!'
For she'd never felt so alive!
And with Grayfia and Fubuki by her side? They could, nay, they would defeat him!
"Are you ok there, old man?" Garou asked, arms up and at the ready, prepared to divert any incoming blow as his focus remained akin to iron, constantly and always maintaining and fueling the blazing inferno within him.
For Ki, by comparison, felt easy, whereas Cosmo…
Ducking underneath a wild haymaker from the big gray one, Garou's eyes narrowed.
"Haaaa!" and inside him, the galaxy in miniature that was his Cosmo blazed, ignited, burned. And his power surged higher and higher as he imagined it condensing ever tighter and exploding, again and again.
"Wolf's sweep!" he roared and, ducking low on his left knee, his right foot shot out straight and Garou rotated once, twice, thrice, kicking up a wild storm, a whirlwind of wind, dust and debris and seven wolves howling could be heard in the storm.
"Gkah!"
And the aliens surrounding him and attempting to flank him were blown away, with some…not getting up again.
"Old man?" he said, rising to his feet and turning with the faintest pangs of worry, only to find Bang dispatching a few weaklings as he did, an aura of red blazing around the old man.
"Tsk!"
So Junior taught the old man, but not me? How's that fair?! The old fighter might have experience but I have vigor, dammit! Junior, you cheating bastard!
"Ohoho! Fear not, my wayward apprentice, for I'm quite fine. Ohoho!"
"Tsk! Like I was worried or anything," he said and crossed his arms. "Also, just so you know, my count is way higher than yours, old timer. You're slowing down. Perhaps it's time to retire?"
Bang made to retort only for another hatch to open above and a massive creature bearing resemblance to an elephant dropped down, and lashed to its back a dozen weaklings could be seen, Bang dashed towards it at the same time as Garou leaned backwards, avoiding a gray elbow even as his left palm shot downwards, diverting the alien's knee to the side and Garou, Cosmo blazing in tandem with his ki kicked against the ground, rising some and shot out his right fist, burying it in the alien's solar plexus as he continued to lean forward.
"Gah!"
And, tucking his fist back by his side, and utilizing his momentum, Garou rolled forward, smashing his right foot straight into the alien's face, taking out one of its eyes as he did.
"Arghh!"
Before, with his left foot, he touched the monster's clavicle and kicked, clearing the distance between them, avoiding the alien's retaliatory swipe and landing a few meters away amidst the rubble, ready for anything.
"There is no doubt…" the alien hissed as he lowered his arm, his eye sizzling with steam and regenerating, bits of dried blood surrounding it. "That's truly Cosmo."
Garou arched an eyebrow.
"AHahaahahahah!"
Both of them ignored King's bloodthirsty cackles as the man continued to pummel any alien that dared come near him.
"Oh yeah? And what would you know about it?"
The alien fixed him with an unreadable gaze, the blood-lust emanating from the invader dimming, as the creature seemed…contemplative, musing even.
"The question, little one, is what would you know of it? For we haven't seen its like in decades, we thought it…we thought it gone. Stamped out. In fact, the last time we saw it used was back when—"
The alien choked, and…
Are those tears?
"When…" the creature stilled itself and sighed. "No matter, no matter. Tell me earthling," the alien said, fixing him with a discerning gaze. "How did you come by this power? Rather, how did you discover it?"
Garou thought for a moment and then grinned.
"How did Junior put it? Ah, yes. Fuck you, that's how!"
The alien scowled.
"Is that so?" the blood-lust returned. "No matter! I'll just have to beat it out of you then!" it said with a roar and blasted towards him, punch aiming to cave Garou's whole ribcage in, and the youth snorted. His hands dancing through the air, the trailing lines of water like afterimages following his arms, inherent in the old fart's style, seeming more solid, more real with the mix of Ki and Cosmo.
Diverting the fool's blows, and restocking his own supply, Garou's Cosmo surged and, feeling cheeky, he danced into the fool's guard and planted a closed fist into the man's abs.
"Wha—"
"Haaaah!" and then stretched out his fingers.
'bang'
"Gah!"
Sending the weakling backwards with a sonic boom, the alien crushing through a car and then into and through the apartment building behind it, and then the next.
A crushing sound drew Garou's attention.
He scowled.
For Silver Fang stood, craning his neck left and right, and working his left rotator cuff, loosening the limb as his naked torso shone with sweat, and in front of him—
"That still only counts as one!" Garou spat and Bang turned mirthful eyes towards him.
"Oho—" only for his eyes to widen. "Garou—"
But Garou sensed it and hastened to raise his arms to block, but even that did not prove enough to fully mitigate the blow.
"Gkah!" for in an instant he found himself embedded into a wall of his own, shaking his head to clear the cobwebs and ignore the irritating ringing of alarms and sirens from nearby.
'Clack'
Growling and roaring, his muscles tensed, bulged, and he broke free of his stone prison.
'Clack'
The big gray one approached with measured steps, the asphalt beneath his feet hissing and cracking due to the power emanating from the alien.
"Little one, perhaps you think yourself unique," the creature said with a sigh and then, focused. "Tooo!" taking a deep breath and the power, the familiar power around him blazed. "But, even though I'm unworthy and, admittedly, even less skilled with it than you seem to be…Tell, me. Did you really believe yourself to be the only one in the universe to wield Cosmo?"
"There are others?" Garou couldn't help but ask, even as he fell into a ready stance.
And the alien wavered, his concentration slipping a tad at that.
"Less…less than there once were. In fact, you're owed this much as a fellow warrior. We." The alien nodded upwards. "The strongest amongst us at least…are the last ones remaining…" the alien's voice sounded hollow before he shook his head. "No matter, no matter…"
Garou made to speak, but before he could—
"Hiyaaa!" a man slammed into the gray one's face with his feet, tilting the alien's head some, more out of surprise than anything. Before the newcomer, the familiar newcomer leaped back.
"Charanko?" Garou couldn't help but ask, making the man turn towards him with a complicated expression before finally settling into something neutral and giving Garou a nod.
"Hey," the man said.
"The hell are you doing here?"
"I came to help," the man said with a shrug. And smiled. "And I'm not alone~"
"That's right little piggie~!" and beside the man a blonde Bdsm fetishist landed, crackling her whip. "Fight well and make me proud!"
"Y-yes, mistress~!"
Garou opened his mouth.
And then some hero in a pristine suit also arrived, running past them all, heading towards King, seemingly racing against some kind of reptile woman while another run next to him.
And then, a Maiko looking woman also dashed by, heading towards Metal Bat with a dark-skinned brunette trailing after her, hurling curses at the prim woman who let out 'ohohos'.
Garou looked at the surprised alien whose mouth also hung open.
They nodded and run towards one another.
Right. I want no part in all that.
"Gkh!"
"Gah!"
As they smashed fist against fist, elbow against elbow, knee against knee. Garou found himself smiling.
"You might be using Cosmo as well, but, you clearly don't know something."
"What?" the alien asked, taking a step back and wiping some blood off his chin.
"A Saint is at his strongest when he fights for Athena!" Garou roared.
"The legend—" the alien managed to say with wide eyes and a gasp.
But then Garou all but teleported in front of the man as the image of Kiiro blazed in his mind and Garou's power exploded his Cosmo growing twice, thrice and on and on without signs of stopping as he slammed blow after blow into the surprised alien's body.
"Fight for me, my saint, protect this world and its people. This world that I love…"
And as Kiiro's kind words and voice reverberated inside his mind, Garou cared little for anything else. Even Junior's horrible primal power suffocating everyone, the power that was and yet somehow also was not there. Even that he cared little about as he rained punch after punch into the staggered alien.
"Wolf's howl!"
Mach 1
Mach 7
Mach 10
His speed and power growing and growing!
She flew through the air with tears streaming down her cheeks. She flew faster than she'd ever flown before, and in her eyes true hate shone for the first time in her life.
"Raaaaaargh!"
"Gkh!"
Boros flew back from the kinetic force of the punch, his left arm gone. And yet, pushing his power to the brim and rising to the sky, the feral looking god bounding after him, Boros found himself smiling.
With nary a thought his arm regenerated as he lead the berserking hero higher and higher, the spaceship where his men resided growing smaller and smaller.
This wasn't what I had in mind…
Indeed, in his dreams. His opponent would have been some majestic hero who would arrive and strike Boros the evildoer down after a fierce battle, or perhaps, Boros himself winning over someone even more evil than him.
And granted, Yuha fit the hero part, but the majestic…
"Raaakillyou!"
The raging alien fell somewhat sort in that department.
Still, Boros did not mind.
"Gkh!" tilting his head to the side, allowing Yuha's left knee and the man himself to sail harmlessly past him, his left arm shot upwards, grasping the alien's furry tail, something which seemed to infuriate the alien even further somehow and tore it free.
Eliciting an agonized howl even as the limb regrow in an instant and the golden eyed monster whirled about, hurling blow after world-shattering blow Boros' way.
The man hastening to deflect and retaliate, even if he winced as he did, for the alien, even if in the throes of madness, still seemed capable of utilizing martial arts, and the one he favored…
Well, Boros did not.
For Yuha could somehow divert Boros' blows and somehow direct his own energy back at him.
Still.
He loved this.
'Thump! Thump!'
For it'd been so long.
So long since he'd seen even a glimmer of light.
So long since he'd resided in shadow and grief.
Grief over his failures.
Grief over his losses.
Grief over—
Boros shook his head as he bated Yuha's clawlike hand to the side, but the idea had been planted and he blinked, chancing a quick glance below.
The beginnings of a horrible realization worming its way into the back of his skull.
What have I become…
A pirate.
He laughed, unbidden, even if his moment of inattention cost him his lower intestines as Yuha's right arm speared through, and Boros' opened his mouth, just as Yuha did. His own white blast meeting the surprised man's gold one. Blowing them both backwards.
For some silly reason, the man still seemed surprised that he, too, could utilize his energy in such a manner.
You're still green, godling. And I don't mean your skin…
Nonetheless, as Yuha exploded out of the smoke created by their energy blasts, the top layer of the alien's skin healing about the same time Boros' intestines and hole in his gut finished doing the same, they met once more. The clash of their forearms meeting blowing apart the nearby clouds as the alien snarled at him, Yuha's visage one of hate and wrath, what with his golden eyes, the veins all over his face and his elongated incisors.
"Rakill…you…" the man hissed, seeming to be adapting to his technique's strain with remarkable speed.
"You can try, Yuha," he said and their right knees met about the same time as they let lose another energy blast from their respective mouths.
"Gkh!"
Only this time Yuha had played him. For from the man's chest, another blast had erupted.
Well played, Yuha. Well played!"
And as he spun through the air, Boros' glanced at his ship below.
And with his soul reignited, able to feel joy once more and pulled out of his dark dreams courtesy of Yuha's efforts, the memory of pearl like laughter and of happier times reached him, of times when he still fought for…for—
What have I become… he shuddered.
A pirate, in truth.
How disgusted she would be with me…
For the name they'd taken up back then, it had meant something quite different.
Oh, how foolish—
"Gkh! What!" his brief moments spent reminiscing had cost him yet again.
"RaaarghGot…you!" Yuha roared with a wild-eyed grin, the alien holding him in a bear hug, refusing to let go, if anything his arms seeming to tighten further and further.
And then, before Boros' could retort, Yuha laughed and begun to spin with him in his grasp, an aura of green threading to life around the alien, different from his raging one as he took them higher and higher as he did.
"What are you…doing. Gkh!" and then Yuha seemed to reach the apex of their flight and started flying in circles, and as he did so, somehow, their momentum seemed to be conserved and increasing along with the gravity Boros' felt.
And in between their loops, Boros' could swear the image of a moon flashed into existence and then, with a roar, the pressure still increasing, Yuha, arms clasped around him still, drove them downwards, straight towards the ship.
"Y-you madman!" Boros' managed to wheeze out with a laugh between the pressure and the pain, impressed and incredulous in equal measure and then, they smashed into the hull, near the prow, and Yuha added his own energy, his body shining gold, further boosting the huge explosion accompanying their somewhat unorthodox…landing.
"Brace yourselves!" the octopus roared and seemed to hunker down, stopping his attack and, with a blink, watching the alien shield his comrades and himself. Tatsumaki did the same for her and the girls besides her. And then the world turned white.
"I-it's tilting!"
Bang glanced upwards momentarily due to Metal Bat's surprised shout.
"Oho?" that, indeed, appeared to be the case.
My…will…is my OWN!
Yuha panted as he stood up, hurling away a half melted sheet of metal, which dropped a few feet away with a thunderous crush, and he ignored the heat around his feet, half submerged as they were in the glowing half melted floor.
Carbonized bodies scattered around him and Yuha felt a pang of regret before he thoroughly squashed it. The wrath filling him making it easy.
If…they…didn't want to die than they…shouldn't…have come here with the intent to invade us!
Half a kilometer or so from him, someone also pushed away a sheet of metal, and Boros stood. Grinning, panting, excited!
Despite lacking most of his left side, which, the man, promptly regrew, of course.
"Damn…it…" Yuha growled, and Boros' grin widened at the sound of his voice. "What…will…it…take to put you down?"
"Oho? Finally found your sense of reason then?" the man asked and leaped, landing a couple dozen meters away. "I've said it before but I will say it again, most impressive, Yuha!"
"Oh yeah? You haven't seen nothing yet…" he said with a pant, his knees wobbling.
"Is that so? But, I can tell your strength is beginning to wane in contrast to your words. Disappointing…"
He snarled at the man's words, the ape snarling with him as his eyes glowed a baleful gold.
"Oh yeah, tough guy? You willing to back your words? Do you want to really test yourself?" he asked and could tell his words intrigued the invader.
"Then." Standing tall, Yuha's palms shot forward, smashing against one another. "Try this on for size!" he challenged and his knees bent, legs spreading apart and his heels forming a 90 degree angle.
"Kaaaaaaa—"
And Boros, grinned.
"A final contest of strength? I approve! Very well, Yuha!" The man roared and his power grew just as Yuha's stomach dropped through the floor.
Boros' hair grew white and long, reaching below his back, white just like his skin and his vi reported a terrifying number as the man rose to the air, and, no doubt, so as to honor Yuha, cupped his own arms to the side and begun forming his own energy blast there.
"Kaaaaaa—"
The man even going as far as to copy his words, and yet, Yuha could tell, even if it was a cold comfort, that Boros' blast had little to do with the turtle hermit's signature move.
Cold comfort cause—
[120 million]
I've made a horrible mistake…
He could but hope that the concentrated energy of the kamehameha would be enough to counter the alien's move.
A crush echoed behind him, and Yuha, still building his energy, glanced behind him.
And his eyes widened, his skin paling.
"No…"
For familiar green ones stared at him in surprise.
"Oh no…"
Tatsumaki chanced a glance behind her at the octopus who telekineticaly shoved away the tones of rubble covering his barrier protecting himself and his subordinates.
"Lord Boros is…" the alien's eyes snapped towards her. "You there, child," he said and Tatsumaki growled.
I'm not a child, dammit!
"Help me!" the man pleaded and his power surged forth as Tatsumaki tensed, only to blink as she realized the alien's power wasn't aimed at her, rather, aiming behind and in between her and Yuha. "Quick!" the alien shouted with desperation, and as she felt the baleful powers build and build behind her, Tatsumaki growled and added her power to the barrier, Fubuki and Grayfia following her lead.
"Meeee…"
"Meeee…"
The powers grew and grew.
"This won't be enough…" she whispered as she faced towards Yuha, and behind her the octopus sighed.
"What choice do we have?"
Behind Tatsumaki, a pair of feet landed and she glanced over her shoulder with a gasp.
No. NO. NO!
He refused.
He refused to accept this!
And yet, much as he raged, behind him, Grayfia, Fubuki, and Tatsumaki stood.
But, the kamehameha should be enough to protect them.
But this terrible power…
'Thump! Voomp!'
"I refuse!" he roared, and his aura blazed green.
"What—"
"I refuse to lose," he growled. "Refuse to lose my precious people! Refuse to cower anymore!" something snapped within him at last and Yuha knew himself.
"Fuck the company, fuck fear, fuck death, and fuck anyone who stands in my way! You're going down!" Yuha roared and unbeknownst to himself, within his left golden eyes, a green spiral formed.
[error]
[unknown file detected]
[scanning…]
[acknowledged]
[scanning…]
[conditions met, releasing final restraints.]
"Who the hell do you think I am!" he shouted and thrust his hands forward just as the immensely stronger Boros hovering above did.
"Haaaa!"
"GIGA KAMEHAMEHAAAAAAAAA!"
And Yuha's spiraling green-blue beam of death met Boros own white one, and the world shook, the clouds all around bursting. Coming apart. While the shockwave of their beams clash shattered or outright destroyed glasses and buildings below and the spaceship Yuha stood upon groaned and shook as the blast from the sound barrier shattering over such a wide an area slammed down into the superstructure.
"H-how?!" Boros shouted over the din.
And Yuha, straining, every inch of him on fire. Smiled.
"Cause I'm a DRILL! And a drill grows stronger with each revolution!" he said, pushing back the man's white beam.
But then…
"Yuha, do you wish to know something?" Boros shouted from above. "I was holding back!" the alien roared and with a shout, his power seemed to grow denser, more real. Even if it did not increase outright and his white beam acquired a gold tint as it quickly regained the ground lost.
"Cosmo…" he mumbled, face pale, terrified.
For he'd tasted the real deal before, courtesy of Garou, that madman of a senpai of his.
And with this…
"No!" he roared, willing his beam to win, pouring more and more power into it from places and reserves he didn't know he had and his very skin seemed to burst apart, revealing pale humanoid flesh underneath, but he didn't care!
And yet.
It proved insufficient.
Yuha's rapidly growing power not enough to eclipse this new massive gap in strength.
"NO!" he roared as the beam smashed into…and through him.
Boros' breath came in quick short gasps as he slowly lowered himself back to the ship's hull.
Landing and falling to one knee as he did, his left hand planting itself into the warm metal to stabilize him.
"W-well fought, Yuha…well fought…" he panted, and then, as he stared at where his opponent had been with blurred eyed, his heart clenched with a sudden bout of regret.
"Geryuganshoop. Oh…what have I done…forgive me old friend…" he mumbled as no sign of his old friend remained, even if, Boros had, at the last second realized his attack would blow up the whole world and had shifted it some, ensuring that the planet survived even if…a mountain range into the distance did not as his beam shot off into space after all but eradicating Yuha.
"You were the second strongest opponent I've ever fought," he said, inclining his head to the man's remains. Namely, the soles of the alien's boots.
What a writer does to avoid having to write bug porn...
anyway, pl:
Cuha: close to 30mil boosted.
Boros "SSJ3": 120 mil.
Beam clash...fuck if I know.