His mouth curved into a wicked grin.
"This is going to be a lot of fun tearing all those people apart while they're unaware of what's happening to them. This Indeed must be my happy day."
His eyes shone blinding red with the thrill of his sinister plan and as he dashed around corners at breakneck speed until the hallways seemed like an endless blur.
He could see beyond walls thanks to his x-ray vision, and also chart out exactly where on his pursuit for 'Pleasure, but suddenly...
"I feel there is someone here! "
the Kryptonian stopped running and said before he started surveying his surroundings, eyes darting around for any sign of movement or life.
And a few seconds later.
"Ah! There you are,"
Suddenly he declared as His eyes fell onto a closed door and he stepped closer to it with eager anticipation – an expression of malicious intent spread across his face as he employed his X-ray vision to see what lay beyond it.
Heh~
Unfocused He kept envisioning all manner of cruel punishments for the person behind that door and smiled wickedly in delight at the the pain he will inflict.
Huh!
But suddenly that same smile, now it turned to a frown after he saw who was inside, and then that frown twisted into an expression of fear.
Then he gasped in disbelief, " the One who devours your entrances and thoroughly enjoys it!?"
He said this in a low, trembling voice after he discovered the identity of the person behind the door – one whom he had hoped to never meet again. His heart raced as involuntary tension crept throughout his body and beads of sweat began to form on his forehead. After composing himself enough to speak further, he muttered under his breath,"Damn...damned! What is he doing here of all palaces!?"
Vin-El, known as the Hunter of Misfortunes, is a shrewd powerful and cautious Kryptonian who can't to be taken lightly. He had earned his place through many battles and wars with one key characteristic differentiating him from all his opponents: he always emerged victorious.
His incredible cunning mind and skill made sure that his adversaries were always weaker than himself—otherwise he wouldn't have even entered the fight at all he would never fight an equal or slightly smarter then him opponent. Such a ruthless and undetectable method for warfare enabled him to earn the sinister title of The Hunter of Misfortunes; due to Vin-El's habit of mostly targeting children, weak women and disabled warriors, which makes him a detestable and hated person even among his peers.
On the other hand, Vin-El's habit of purification and terrorization was more aptly regarded as a favor by the war generals. Because They no longer had to concern themselves with these matters; all that was left for them to do was point out what needed to be done and entrust it in capable hands - namely, Vin-El's. Consequently, he had become the go-to solution for any situation requiring such fiendish acts.
But Vin-El's cleverness and talent failed him at the last, when his reliance on his youthful bravado caused him to lock horns with Lobo in the past.
Fighting lobo was a literal living hell for him; no matter how he tried to weaken or foil he always seemed to come out renewed from a single iota. To add insult to injury, he would play mind-games with Vin-El that nearly drove him mad in between fights. His experience of this conflict felt like an endless nightmare; something between purgatory and Hades itself.
In the end, Vin-El was severely beaten before he decided to escape the fight, vowing to himself with certainty that he would never ever approach Lobo or others like him in the near future.
——And I definitely don't plan on breaking that promise. Vin-el thought as he took a few steps back away from the door, making sure Lobo didn't find out about his existence. His face was grim as he spoke –his voice heavy with conviction "damn it. Just when I thought I was going to have some fun - but no amount of fun is worth the trouble of confronting that psychopath! Never "
Vin-el eyed the window to his left, readying himself for a desperate and daring escape. He started to float up in the air slowly, preparing to burst through it at full speed, and Just when he was about to leave suddenly, "huh!?" He let out a yelping cry as he felt a sharp impact on his face that jolted him off course and sent him careening through the walls of many rooms within the the big hallway of the castle. His momentum destroyed all obstacles along his path until finally settling under the piles of debris from what had been once the room hundredth.
Vin-El lay there dazed, blinking ash and dust from his eyes. His head throbbed with confusion and pain as he tried to make sense of what had just happened — and then All at once a strong grip latched onto his feet, yanking out of the debris then upwards propelling him through several roofs He tumbled through them with a loud crashing, shattering everything as he flew from one level to another without pause unwillingly defying gravity.
He could not catch his breath or steady himself before being flung further upwards; it seemed like an eternity until finally Vin-El crashed into the dome of what seemed to be the peak of the castle and then he spiraled down onto solid ground in a cloud of dust. With a loud gasp, all went silent for him again as "Fuck! What just happened?" emerged from his lips.
Vin-El cautiously stood up, spitting out the dust and wood splinters from his mouth. He leaned down to inspect the damage that had been made " damn that was one helluva throw!" He said impressed snd also with an unmistakable anger in his voice.
Then His eyes darted across all of the large gaps he had created through each layer as if nothing happened. Now Focusing his gaze on one specific place, he used his X-ray vision.
Sigh!.
And With a visible relief, Vin-El noted that Lobo is still Inside his room undisturbed even amidst all this destruction; "Thank God," ran softly through his lips as he exhaled with gratitude for narrowly avoiding a complete disaster.
With that Vin-el suddenly exclaimed with an exasperated expression, "Alright I am done playing around!" With an incredible speed his arm shot into the air to his side. A strange sound of pain and impact reverberated in the room as a blue figure flew across the space, crashing into a nearby wall with an ear-splitting clatter.
Taking a few steps toward the laying figure of what appeared now to be blue beetle Vin-El shouted at him angrily "Oh buddy! What's wrong with you? Damn you!, attacking me carelessly and brutally without giving me any chance to defend myself. Did you really plan to trash me all around the castle just like that!?"
Blue beetle attempted to pull his body away from Vin-El, but the solid wall of the dome prevented his escape.
Vin-EL having none of that marched forward and shoved him harder against the wall as he held him by the neck with both hands, pinning him in place. A thud reverberated through them both as their bodies collided harshly with the Nth metal surface followed by a groan of pain escaping from between gritted teeth of agony from blue beetle.
"Listen here, you bug!," he shouted. "I don't know who you are, but I definitely know why you attacked me!" He paused for a moment to catch his breath before continuing on with rising indignation in his voice.
"But what confuses me more the most is the strategy you used to attack me, because simply trashing me around won't help anything! Because BECAUSE! Your strategy will only lead to the deaths of the people that YOU want to protect – do YOU really WANT that!?"
Vin-El gazed at Blue Beetle's face intensely, his eyes full of fiery anger. His grip around the boy's throat was tight enough to cause his struggles for air to become even more desperate and muffled. As he spoke strange words in a choked whisper, Vin-El narrowed his eyes, trying desperately to understand what he is saying.
"G--o f..uck yo--ur sel--f"
Huh?" Vin-El muttered confused by his choice of words. Then Suddenly a strange heat descended on his stomach, and looking down he found himself face to face with an immense cannon pointing directly at him.
"Shit!" He instinctively breathed in hard, swearing loudly beneath his breath before an intense wave of energy burst from the barrel of the canon towards him. His body was propelled across the room with rocket force – crashing into the Nth metal wall producing both deafening sound and leaving an imprint of his likeness behind it.
Vin-El seethed with indignation. "Damn you and your cheap tricks you fuc–!"
suddenly a chorus of ethereal blue light in the expanding dust cloud snuffed out his words before they finished, and instead of standing, he was forced into action as tiny globes of energy came at him from all sides. He moved faster than it seemed possible for any normal human could ever do- dodging this way and that in an effort to avoid being hit by yet another glowing sphere - swearing under his breath each time one nearly grazed him.
Vin-El continued zipping around the room, nimbly dodging blue energy balls that whizzed by him in every direction. He felt their explosive force before, and for that he is sure of one thing, and that is if even one touched him he would be overwhelmed by their combined pressure If then he would not be able stand up again let alone defending himself.
But even under such a pressure.
"Your tricks won't work on me for too long buddy", His lips curved into a crooked smile as he taunted his opponent; ". They're just expending the inevitable while annoying me that is."
Indeed and backing his words, All around him kaboom!s echoed through the air like thunderclaps but none of them seemed to slow or stop Vin-El as his super speed allowed him to expeditiously evade the projectiles.
Suddenly Vin-El noticed that blue beetle had grown increasingly agitated he could literally feel it.
"Well I think it's time to end this pointless charade once and for all" he murmured.
And then as if shifting gears He ran at a speed even faster than before, and began to spin in circles while increasing his velocity. And In one swift motion Vin-El stopped evading and instead he started to bash through the projectiles using his own body as a battering ram and created an immense force field of energy around his body, allowing him to take out all of the projectiles.
The force field was so powerful it also sucked up the remaining particles of light from the projectiles battling it into particles of light, which Vin-El then maneuvered away from their location. When he saw that the the projectiles stopped coming, he deactivated the force field and stopped spinning.
Vin-El surveyed the destruction that had been wrought and shook his head. "What now?" he said, not even trying to hide the sarcasm in his voice. He looked at Blue Beetle standing a few yards away from him.
"Do you have any other tricks up your sleeve? Because if this is all there is," he gestured to the pieces of broken rubble surrounding them, "then you will not be able to protect anyone - least of all those whom you came here so valiantly to defend. And instead by acting recklessly like this, you will diffintly end up killing them yourself!"
He then gestured broadly around them with one arm then continued speaking slowly, curling each word deliberately from between gritted teeth - "And if my patience with you runs out, there won't be room enough in this god forsaken place for the both of us."
Though hearing the threats and mocking words Blue Beetle didn't back down he stood his ground and held Vin-El gaze steady.
Vin-El's eyes narrowed as he spotted the look of courage in blue beetle, a look so deep seated and etched on his masked face that it left him feeling bitter. He couldn't stand brave people and never will, He again opened his mouth to say something venomous when blue beetle interrupted him.
"You are wrong," Blue Beetle replied in a metallic voice. "In fact, I was not trying to defeat you because I know that I cannot. Rather, my true intention was to get you out of the castle and away from the innocents - and for that purpose, I tried my best ... but"
Here he paused for a moment before continuing with emphasis on his words as he swept an arm around gesturing at the room they were standing in: "And this was gonna work…I if not for it this dome ... why are you laughing so suddenly ?"
Vin-El couldn't help but laugh despite himself. "You stupid little bastard," he said with a chuckle, shaking his head in disbelief at the pointless fight they'd just had. He wiped away the tears of laughter and shook his head again "dude, in fact, everything you did until now was utterly pointless!."
"What do you mean by pointless!? " blue beetle asked.
"I was going to leave anyway but you stopped me from doing it the first time you attacked me. You fucking moron!"
"You're a liar. Do you think I'm that gullible enough to believe you...please I literally heard everything you said in the palace corridors."
"Nah, I never lie, and that's something I'm known for among my people... Be it bad or good, I won't lie, I'll say it directly with no boundaries." Suddenly Vin-El smiled a crooked smile, pointing with his hand at blue beetle, "And you, you idiot, you really fucked everything up!."
Blue Beetle frowned and for the first time at anything Vin-El said, "No yo–
Suddenly, just before he could speak, he interrupted himself, noticing that Vin-El smiled knowingly and said, "Yes, you listen to that tick in your suit, at least she seems wiser than a stupid fuck like you!." Then he laughed.
...
——Does this mean that I made a mistake in attacking him?
——[Perhaps, but by attacking him, you also prevented him from leaving to inform his companions of the whereabouts of civilians].
Blue beetle asked doubting his actions so far and In response, he heard the metallic voice of Khaji Da reassuringly state an answer in. Blue Beetle sighed with relief as he took comfort in its words ——perhaps this was just one way to look at it, he thought to himself.
Then
——[Jaime, I think you should stop holding back, because according to my calculations so far, your chances of winning are almost nonexistent if you keep fighting him like this].
blue beetle brows furrowed ——Wasn't it you who advised me to hold back on using all my powers until I got him out of the castle?.
——[Yes, but that changed after the plan failed. In addition, my priority first and foremost is your safety and no one else's].
Blue beetle rolled his eyes, then he replied, ——Of course it is the case with you. then he smiled inwardly, ——But there is no need to worry, it is not too late for more action, for I have a new plan.
A few moments of silence then Khaji Da replied, ——I see, I will try to do my best, please be careful.
——I will.
with that last thought blue beetle focused his eyes on the Kryptonian smug face for ... some reason.
"Have you finished talking to your tick, you stupid idiot?" he sneered with a mocking smile. "It appears that you have finished and from the look on your face, I can only assume you finally believed what I said. And You should be thankful that I chose not to destroy you in an instant while chatting – though it is still an option I am considering." He said menacingly, his smug expression daring and challenging.
——this man Is s walking eggshell That's for sure, though Blue Beetle biting his lip hard. As to keep himself in control, otherwise an outburst of laughter at the Kryptonian's HUGE ASS ego would be disastrous. He quickly began to think of something he could do or say that would buy them some time – an Idea come to his mind, and without wasting any more time he opened his mouth to speak.
"Yes, maybe you're right. Maybe attacking you was a very bad idea. I admit I shouldn't have attacked you." Blue Beetle smiled bitterly and then continued, "But there's no point in crying over spilled milk... right?"
"Right!, Right!, but don't worry, you won't cry for long. You will die soon anyway would make sure of that!" He laughed.
Instead of responding to the Kryptonian's threats, Blue Beetle's eyes moved past him to the wall behind. Or rather, to be more precise, he looked at the huge dent in it made of Nth Metal wall. He smiled slyly before bringing his eyes back and locking onto those of his opponent. His gaze was unshakable now— confident and calm in spite of everything that had happened so far...
"that look again, I hate it"
Blue Beetle looked with a confident gaze at the Kryptonians, for no more than an instant his expression changed from confidence to alarm as Without warning, the Kryptonian in front of him vanished like mist.
"Hk!"
Then Suddenly, he felt a sharp force which sent him hurtling through the air—followed by a firm grip between his shoulder and arm as he was pulled over in mid-air—and then finally finding sudden contact against a hard surface as one powerful swipe of the Kryptonian hand flung him onto the solid Nth coated wall. Everything had happened too quickly for Blue Beetle to even understand what had just taken place.
Blue Beetle's eyes widened, as reality sunk in. He barely felt his body anymore as he began to comprehend what had just transpired.
——Ah!, that's right I actually was about to carry out my plan bu—
His thoughts trailed off as a searing pain wracked through him like a thousand knives piercing his skin at once. Every inch of his body seemed crushed and broken and he could do nothing but lay there paralyzed from head-to-toe; unable to scream or move due the shear intensity of pain that engulfed him completely now.
The pain continued to linger and the pressure started to change from crushingly painful to numbness, then he realized.
——Right I am not alone here.
He turned his head towards where the other person is standing beside his broken body.
"I'm really surprised that you're still alive," the Kryptonian said with pride but also frustration, his eyes narrowed as he inspected Blue Beetle's destroyed blue armor. "I used all my strength in those successive attacks. I think that blue armor you're wearing played a big role in your survival."
Blue Beetle was still dizzy from the force of his opponent's attack and the searing pain that came after, he couldn't move his limbs.
——so that's the power of a Kryptonian who doesn't hold back huh? Terrifying.
he finally realized how powerful this enemy was, fear settled into him like an icy chill and overwhelmeb him anew with each breath. He again tried to will himself to rise from where he lay, barely able to raise his head off the ground.
"You don't look like you have much power left," said the Kryptonian with a sneer, "but I'm not taking any chances. Prepare yourself for what's coming."
Blue Beetle could only stare back in apprehension as he felt the killing intent of the Kryptonian intensifying. He began to realize that the only chance now was to find some way of using Khaji Da somehow, but he had no idea at why he can't this time.
——damnit Khaji Da where are you?.
[...]
He had already tried to reach him telepathically and sent powerful pulses of energy through their connection but it seemed that either Lobo was too far away or Khaji Da just couldn't respond – an idea which left Blue Beetle feeling exceedingly helpless— if they weren't connected then there was no other way for him to get out of this critical position and survive.
——You've really stepped In it this time, jaime. With that thought, Blue Beetle began to close his eyes, preparing for the final blow that would end everything.
...
[Jaime]
Suddenly, a blue light appeared and hovered near Blue Beetle's face. It was Khaji Da! [Don't worry] it said in a calm voice, [I can help you win this fight, so rest, as for now I will take over]
Suddenly a powerful blue energy veil appeared around them, pushing away the Kryptonian, completely covering Blue Beetle.
——Alright. Blue Beetle replied thoughtfully, finally giving in to his fatigue as he finally closed his eyes.
...
"Well well look at that—always expect the unexpected with you guys huh?," The Kryptonian slowly stood up, brushing off the dust. His eyes narrowed looking at the reforming blue beetle that was standing as if nothing happened earlier.
"I will take it that you are the Ai this time is that right ?" He asked.
Khaji Da stood still and instead of responding. the blue armor that covered him began to stir, shifting and contorting of its own volition. In a matter of seconds, a great sword had formed on one hand and an elaborate shield with a cannon head at its middle rested on the other. Then wings resembling those of a dragon fly sprouted from his back as his helmet shifted into something more menacing-looking, two yellow eyes now gleaming red from within. It was clear that Khaji Da was preparing for battle; this time unlike Jamie, the AI will go all out.
"You're not one for speaking much are you? I like that kind of attitude...it's kinda cool to be honest".
The Kryptonian's face contorted into an evil grin as he spoke, his fists held tight in anticipation of what was to come. He began to levitate off of the ground and a powerful force emanated from around him, emitting a pressure that seemed capable of crushing Iron to powder.
" _ "
Nonetheless Khaji Da stood defiantly before him with a piercing gaze emanating from his glowing red eyes— ready for their battle to the death. His stoic nature revealed by the way he remained silent served only as further proof that this AI meant business and would not back down against any opponent no matter how formidable they may be.
then all sound stopped around them and only one thing was heard-a calls for war.
"DIE!" [DIE!]
With that in instant Vin-El and Khaji Da flew toward each other with a speed that defied the laws of physics, their strength radiating from them like a sun heat waves. Vin-El's fist blazed like lightning as it shot forward to meet its adversary's weapon.
Simultaneously, Khaji Da raised his massive sword high in the air and brandished a cannon shield at its ready— their clashing generated an intense shock wave that threatened to shatter the entire castle They paused for but an instant before going blow for blow; neither would yield until one had come out victorious from this fight to the death between the two, The fight had begun and it shall end - with only one remained standing.
...
