A fulcrum point disappears again. But this one is different: it's a fulcrum point she finished making. It is unlike the ones the boy destroyed before.
Future plans disappear. Future points disappear. She loses sight, not of everything, but the suddenness of it all causes her to stop for a moment.
She recreates the fulcrum point again. This time, it's instantaneous as she already knows the human.
The boy disappears once more, and the newly recreated point disappears again.
She turns away from her previous target, a data center housing Tinker technology. She uses others' senses to extract information and form plans.
She sees, and she moves.
-.-
Something's wrong.
"I don't hear any of the Simurgh's screams," Legend reported to his armband. "Anyone else?"
"I don't hear anything either, sir!" an Australian cape answered.
Multiple assents from different parts of the battlefield rang out as well.
It's been an hour and a half since the Simurgh landed on Canberra's airport, and it was only recently she began moving southeast. A local cape surmised her next target was the HU1 building, a data center in Australia. It also apparently housed Tinker technology. If the Simurgh managed to get her hands on those, she might just bring the entire continent into the pre-Internet era.
They can't let what happened to Madison happen again.
Luckily, the data center began creating backups the moment they realized the city was under attack. However, it still meant they would physically lose the building and anything else they couldn't put away.
It could have been worse, Keith supposed.
That said, against convention and all they've known, the Simurgh stopped in her tracks, barely out of the airport.
Taking the opportunity, Eidolon and Alexandria rallied the capes and began attacking as she was distracted. However, she still continued to defend herself. She just wasn't screaming or moving. He could see the occasional truck or airplane hitting someone. Some, he managed to save. Others, they either died on impact or someone else managed to save them.
In all the times he'd seen her, the Simurgh had never hesitated. She always moved forward with a plan. She knew when something was about to happen and moved to make that beneficial for her.
For the first time, she stopped. It was as if she was hesitating.
She began shifting directions and moved at the opposite direction.
She stayed silent and ignored the capes on her way, moving with purpose once more.
The direction she's moving... It's-
"The Simurgh has begun to move northwest! I repeat, the Simurgh has changed directions and is now going northwest! All Relief parties in areas CB and DT, begin evacuation! Movers with the ability to move multiple people, help with evac!" Legend yelled at the armband as he began to chase after the Simurgh.
A few moments later, a voice spoke through his armband. "This is Joker, part of the Relief capes! I have an unconscious civilian with me at Campbell! I need help!"
A flier sped past the other capes. Legend recognized him as a Tinker from Silicon Valley.
However, that wasn't what caught his attention. Instead, he noticed the Simurgh speed up as well, as if trying to reach her target in the northwest before the Tinker could.
The question is why? Why would she hurry up? Why would she change directions? She was clearly moving towards the HU1 facility, yet she hesitated and moved in the opposite direction. She should have been able to land exactly where she wanted to go. And yet, she now has to waste time getting to whatever she wanted.
Did she change targets to this Joker cape? What about him was so important?
Or, what if she's faking it? What if she planned this from the start?
Then, even now, they're still-
A blur zoomed past him, Alexandria seemingly dragged by her cape again. Shaking his head, Legend focused on the problem in front of him. Whatever the Simurgh planned, he can't get distracted now.
-.-
Joker dodged left, casting Heat Riser again as a stove nearly hit him. Paulina, the civilian he saved earlier, whimpered at the close call. She gripped his coat harder than before, refusing to let go and making herself just a bit smaller.
"Please please please... I can't fucking believe this is happening..." she whispered. "She's still screaming in my head!"
"Don't worry," Dragon answered. "A Mover is on his way. Just, please, hold on."
A shadow enveloped them, and Joker jumped back. A large wall broke into pieces in front of him. Joker tried to shield Paulina, a stray piece hit her, making her lose consciousness. A quick heal from Maria stopped the bleeding, but she remained asleep.
Joker growled in frustration. All kinds of things delayed him from moving away from the battlefield, from home appliances, pieces of roads, telephone poles, and sometimes even houses. He dodged when he can, but he would often use an attack to get through something when he had no time to go around something. He originally believed that all of this was just random chance, but the intensity has only increased over time. On top of that, the Simurgh was moving northwest, towards Campbell and downtown Canberra, made all this feel deliberate. He was on her warpath, and all these "random" rubble was just the Simurgh playing him, making sure he stayed in the area while she made her way here.
What's made this worse was-
"That's going to be tough to do, Dragon. I'm running out of steam here!"
He could feel mental fatigue hitting him. Not to the extent that he couldn't use some of his Personas' powers, but he didn't have bottomless energy. On top of that, he had to concentrate on dodging the flying debris all around him while carrying someone. Running around like he usually would require full mobility. Hell, his grappling hook wouldn't be much use, even if he could find and use for it right now. It wouldn't be strong enough to carry another person, something he learned inside Kamoshida's Palace.
A telephone pole landed in front of him. The broken wires were dangerous enough that he couldn't just vault through, forcing him to run right. However, he stopped, and a car landed where he would have run.
"I really think she's got it in for me..." he muttered.
"Joker! Is that you?!" a man behind Joker called out.
He turned around, and he saw a man flying with a jetpack.
"That's me! Think you can carry both of us?"
"No problem! My tech has been power tested to least 200 kilograms, I can definitely both of you with me!"
Joker sighed in relief. "Great, then-"
Something broke through the wall next to him, and he dodged forward to try and get to the Jetpack. At the same time, he threw the woman at the cape. However, the car swerved, hitting Joker. He let go of the woman, and the car carried him away from the two. Fortunately, Jetpack managed to catch her and flew away.
'Damn, didn't even think about switching to another Persona.' Maybe he should have run around with Yoshitsune, but he'd be physically tired.
The car eventually lost momentum, and he rolled on the ground. He immediately used Maria to heal. He noticed that the winds picked up, and his stomach fell. He turned around, and he could see the Simurgh approaching with the other capes doing their best to slow her down.
However, despite all this, she continued to approach, her face as beautiful as he heard. At the same time, he could see her inhumane nature in her cold and empty eyes. Her wings were asymmetrical, and it triggered a sense of unease in him. She continued to move forward, undisturbed by all that surrounded her.
Wait a second...
"Dragon, why is no one trying to get away from the Simurgh's range?" Joker asked. "I know we're running out of time, but aren't we doing hit-and-run to counter her screams?"
"Yes, but she hasn't screamed since-"
And then everyone around the Simurgh clutched their heads as if in pain.
"She just screamed, didn't she?" Joker said.
"Damn it!"
The infighting began, as those same blasts and lights that targeted the Simurgh now hit fellow capes. He even saw a flier essentially dive bomb someone else into the ground. However, explosions began ringing out in the air.
"What's going on, Dragon?"
"I'm activating the armbands of those I know are controlled by the Simurgh."
"But how sure are you they're controlled?"
"It is a planned risk. Best to stop the infighting now than have everyone dead because of it."
"Then you won't mind if I try something, right? Raoul, Phantom Show!"
Raoul appeared behind Joker and summoned a moon above him. It glowed until it blinded everyone. When it disappeared, a lot of capes were found asleep on the ground, caught by Phantom Show. Now, only the Triumvirate were left in the immediate vicinity.
"We need to get them away from here..." Joker muttered.
"So, you're Joker. From what Dragon mentioned, you made them sleep, right?" Legend asked as he landed next to Joker. "We were lucky you managed to incapacitate them, but we can't lose any more capes just to save Ziz bombs, Joker. If we do, the Simurgh might just push through and reach the populace. We need to stall here while we get everyone out of here.
Joker gave a tired grin. "That's a tall ask. There's, what, four of against an Endbringer? How's the evac going? I don't think we can hold her off for too long."
"We've evacuated the closest areas, at the very least. However, we're approximately only 60% finished," Dragon replied.
"Then-"
Shadows enclosed upon Joker, and he leapt back, dodging two airplanes slam to where he was just now. Legend, on the other hand, flew backwards and shot blasts in retaliation.
He ran up an airplane and muttered, "This one is one of my newest ones so I'm not too used to him just yet, especially with what he uses, but I guess I can't afford to hold back when I'm so close to you. Fafnir!"
A metallic dragon appeared behind Joker as he cleared the tail of the airplane with a jump. The dragon roared and from its mouth emerged a ball of green energy. It shot the ball at the Endbringer, and debris tried to stop it, but all it did was slow it down enough for the attack to only nick her. However, the injury disappeared as quickly as it came as she healed it.
Wreckage began to fly faster around Joker. He dodged when he can, not using any energy to attack the debris. That energy would be better spent attacking the Simurgh. He even used the grappling hook for a quick change in elevation when a jump wouldn't cut it. When solid things like cement, trucks, and house walls hit him, they instead bounced back.
He thanked Fafnir's inherent abilities to reflect things.
However, over time, he realized he saw fewer physical objects and more live wires and metals. The wires would often try to snake around his limbs to try and restrain him. Sometimes, he'd see metal plates slam to him, which wasn't effective, but a wire would attempt to touch it, which he knew would cause an electrical current to travel through the metal.
Instead of moving forward, the Simurgh seemed content with just sitting here in Campbell. With all the moving around, he wasn't sure if the Simurgh moved forward at all since she screamed to catch the capes off-guard.
The sinking feeling in Joker's stomach came back. Legend only called out that the Simurgh began moving towards Campbell after he entered the Metaverse and destroyed the bombs. Did she see him as a threat? There were others with the Master powers. Why him, specifically? Did the ability to change hearts differ from a Master's ability?
"Hey Dragon, has the Simurgh moved at all ever since she came to Campbell? I don't think she has," Joker said to his armband.
"Sorry, one moment."
Joker ducked under a telephone pole and waited to see a mech crash into the Simurgh. However, she weaved around it, and buried it under a truck, causing an explosion.
"Sorry, was in the middle of attacking," Dragon said. "But, yes, you are correct... She hasn't moved at all. Hold, something's gathering in the troposphere. It's... water?"
"What do you mean-"
Something blotted out the sun, and Joker saw a dark cloud in the middle of a very sunny day. What followed was downpour.
"Oh, no..." Joker muttered.
Sparks flew in the area as the live wires began to short circuit. He ran to steer clear, but an airplane stopped his advance. At the same time, an electrical wire wrapped around him from behind. He felt muted pain as it momentarily stunned him. In that moment, metallic items like car doors and airplane pieces slammed into him.
Fafnir's innate resistance to electricity is certainly helping matters, but it still hurts and it's keeping him away from the fight. He blasted his location with Cosmic Flare, and everything around him blew away while he healed from his own attack. He began running towards the Simurgh. He switched to Yoshitsune, and the electricity no longer bothered him.
He saw Eidolon cut through flying buildings to get to the Simurgh. In his concentration, he didn't see the airplane coming from above, but Joker did.
"One-Shot Kill!"
A bullet of energy shot forward, breaking the airplane, and it let Eidolon ignore the airplane. However, another plane, covered by the first plane, hit Eidolon. It exploded on contact, hurling Eidolon to the ground.
He ran to Eidolon, and when he saw him rise from the ground, ready to fly again despite his injuries, he yelled, "Give me a sec! Maria!"
Eidolon lit in green sparkles around him, and he stood straight.
"You can heal."
"Sure can, boss-man," Joker said with a grin. "I'll can handle support in between potshots."
Eidolon launched himself into the air and weaved between the debris while Joker gave him cover fire with Riot Gun. With a roar, he sped up. From the sidelines, Joker saw another mech suit approach the Simurgh with speed before jerking towards Eidolon. Right before impact, Joker used One Shot Kill, destroying the mech suit. Eidolon pushed past the resulting smoke.
Joker saw him land a clean hit, the first clean hit since the battle began, on the Simurgh, and he slammed her onto the ground.
Legend and Alexandria saw the opening and began to follow-up. Lasers raced alongside Alexandria to hide her away from the Simurgh's eyes as they both tried to hit her at the same time. However, their attacks were repelled using a bus, reflecting Legend's lasers onto Alexandria. In the meantime, the Simurgh managed to swipe Eidolon away, giving her space.
"Joker," Dragon called out from the armband, "can you use what you just did to Eidolon to Legend and Alexandria? It helped Eidolon land a hit."
"It'll take more than a second, but I'll do more than just that," Joker grunted. Despite being nearly spent, these three were the Triumvirate. He's heard from Taylor they were the strongest Earth Bet could offer besides Scion. If there was anyone that could possibly hurt an Endbringer, it would be them. "Trumpeter, let's give them the full package!"
Trumpeter appeared behind him and trumpeted three times. For each tantara, different lights appeared around the three capes, from purple, green, then red.
"Then, Maria!" Green sparkles surrounded the three this time. "Buffs and heals! That's all I can do for them for now. I'm nearing my limit here. Those three better end it now."
And fight they did. They were stronger and tougher than they were before. They even managed to land some hits.
However, the Simurgh fought back. Electricity arced in between the rain, and she used it to stun Legend and Eidolon when there was an opportunity. Alexandria rammed into her, but she had to make sure she didn't get caught by her telekinesis. If she did, she was used as a ram against the others to distract them and give the Simurgh room. And when she did get breathing room, she replenished her armory of rubble and debris.
To counter that-
A bullet of energy destroyed the flying wreckage, letting Legend's lasers to continue undisturbed, landing a grazing hit on the Simurgh. It allowed Alexandria to hit a proper hit on her, pinning her to the ground. Eidolon and Legend followed through, Legend freezing the arms while Eidolon and Alexandria pummeled her.
"Oooh, I can definitely feel Alexandria's anger from here..." Joker muttered with a small chuckle. Being someone's chew toy would definitely do that to anyone.
It would be around now that the buffs would wear off, and so he shouted, "Trumpeter, give-"
In that moment, in between switching Personas, everything went to hell and fell like dominoes.
Something slammed into him from behind, and he saw a rebar pierce his stomach from the back.
"Shit, Trumpeter wasn't immune to projectiles..." Joker complained. He was about to continue giving the heroes buffs, but his eyes widened as he saw more things flying at him with speed. Instead of going ahead with Trumpeter, he switched to Fafnir, and the objects bounced off him.
His body hurt, but he couldn't even afford to heal. Switch to Maria, and he will definitely get skewered.
"Dragon, I-"
Joker heard screams come from where he last saw the Triumvirate fight the Endbringer. However, instead of them pressuring her like before, the tide of the battle flipped: the Simurgh was now pressuring the heroes. The buffs had run out, and they lost their edge against her. Legend transformed and disappeared. Meanwhile, Eidolon clutched his head while still firing bolts of energy at the Endbringer. Alexandria tried her best to distract the Simurgh, but she beautifully weaved around the hero, making her zoom past her and onto objects with some use of her telekinesis.
And then a missile hit a flying house. His eyes followed the trail of smoke that followed it, and he saw other capes flying to meet the Endbringer. More projectiles soon followed but they all met the same fate as the first one. They didn't manage to hit the Simurgh, but it was enough to get the Triumvirate away from the Simurgh.
The Endbringer unfurled herself and everyone began clutching their heads just like Eidolon did. Sand swirled in the area, forcing Joker to close his eyes.
The winds died down, and when Joker opened his eyes, he could see two silhouettes of the Simurgh.
"The Simurgh can create more of herself?"
"One of them is a decoy using her telekinesis," his armband remarked. "She showed it when she attacked Madison."
"She's still showing off new tricks?!" he yelled before he collapsed. He could feel burns underneath his clothes, most likely electrical burns from all the telephone wires that warped and shocked him. On top of that, he couldn't concentrate on his Personas because of all the pain.
"Joker... I... I'm sorry," Dragon said mournfully as he heard a beep.
His stomach fell. He pushed himself off the ground, one arm under him, the other clutching his stomach. "Dragon, what are you doing?"
"This is the worst position we are in. I thought that maybe we had a chance, but we should have stuck to what we were doing before."
The beeps began to repeat steadily, and Joker tried to find where he was hearing it.
"Don't you dare, Dragon! We could still-"
A blast appeared in the direction he heard the beep. After he blinked away the lights in his eyes, he saw a body missing parts above the shoulders topple to the ground.
Another series of beeps sounded, but this time, it was everywhere around him.
"Dragon!"
"It is preferable than the Simurgh having an entire slew of capes at her disposable, Joker," Dragon said. "Please, be at ease. For all that we managed to do here, the evacuation is complete. I won't detonate your armband. I truly believe you are immune to the Simurgh's powers. I hope she passes over and you survive."
Joker collapsed once more onto the ground, but this time, his eyes started to glaze over, far too tired to say anything back.
"Is this how it will end?"
What can he do? He has no energy left, and it's not like he can counter hack the best Tinker in the world. Maybe if Futaba were here, maybe she could do something. But him alone?
"And you're just going to give up?"
Even if he managed to stop Dragon from killing all the capes around him, there was still the Simurgh. For all the things he could do, he was effectively alone, and he couldn't damage her in any meaningful way.
"So, you'll just lay down your arms as the world around you collapsed?"
I...
"That's not the person I contracted with, was it not?"
...No, not at all.
Joker coughed as he tried to concentrate everything he had to standing up.
"Joker?"
"I'm not one to curse, but fuck this shit..." He chuckled, though it hurt to do so. "Maybe Amy rubbed off on me... But that's for later."
"What are you doing?"
He gasped as he finally managed to stand up, though he was leaning on one side. He was sure there were explosions and beeping around him, but he could hear nothing but silence.
"I'd rather die fighting than...sleep on the ground and letting this pass."
"Joker, please lay down and rest. You might still survive-"
"Like hell, I will! People are dying left and right around me, and you expect me to just lay down my arms while I have the chance to live? That's not right." He fought the weight of his own arm, shakily raising his pistol, and aimed it at the Simurgh. "I'm going to keep on fighting, with everything I've got!"
"Well done. I'm truly proud to have you as my contractor, O' Trickster mine. Now, call upon me!
"I am thou and-"
"Thou art I! Come to me, Satanael!"
A deep laughter rang inside his head as blue flames swallowed everything around him.
-.-
Rune gave a glance on everyone she managed to rescue before hearing her name. "Victor?"
"It's time to go," he said. "This place will be overrun by the Simurgh soon."
"We're leaving everyone?"
"Yes. Better alive than dead here. Dragon already gave the okay."
"I- Alright, I'll be-"
Before she could continue, the horizon lit in blue. When Rune looked, it was in the direction of-
"Campbell?" Victor muttered. "Dragon, what's going on?" No answer came from the armband. "Dragon? Shit, she's not answering. Rune, we need to leave."
Rune stared, mesmerized by the blue flames that danced in the horizon. The flames were so...familiar.
"Rune! What the fuck are you doing?"
"I- I think that's Joker..." Rune answered. "No, that's definitely Joker. He's-"
A hand emerged from the flames and something that rivaled the size of Ziz crawled out from the flames.
"What the actual fuck?"
-.-
Eidolon blinked as his mind became clear. Both the Simurgh and all the other capes' screams quieted down as something began to loom over them, crawling from... Joker's shadow? His shadow was unnaturally large as a clawed hand began pushing itself off the ground, lifting an armored arm from inside the shadow. A pauldron appeared next. And then...
"An Endbringer...?" someone muttered.
An armored humanoid monster eventually emerged from the shadows. It was huge, rivaling the size of the Simurgh. Not only that, but it also had six bat-like wings, feathered where it connected to the main body. A golden mask with huge horns protected its face, and a halo with multiple wings spun above its head. Another pair of horns rested in the back of its head, and a sash rested across its body.
"Holy shit, another one? We're all dead..."
Its wings opened up, with its chest and arms out, as if it were...
Eidolon glanced where the new Endbringer faced. "Is it challenging the Simurgh?"
"Eidolon, you're alright?" Dragon asked in his armband.
"Yes, I'm fine. What happened?"
"The Simurgh managed to get everyone under her scream," Dragon explained, "But Joker second triggered. Or, at least, I think he did. Now, everyone sounds fine."
Eidolon glanced around him, and he found numerous dead bodies, torn apart by explosions that seemed to originate from the arms. Despite the tiny trepidation he felt from that, he approved of it.
"And the new Endbringer is his second trigger?"
"Yes, but-"
"It doesn't follow the normal second trigger. Alexandria, where's Legend?"
"Outside of her range," Alexandria answered. "Left as soon she screamed. He's on his way, though."
Eidolon sighed in relief before glancing at the boy that summoned the Endbringer. His eyes glowed in gold while his hand clutched his face.
"Are you alright, Joker?" he asked. Second triggers were tricky. He understood what needed to happen, but the boy just triggered. He must have faced something similar to his original trigger event, and he knew nothing about-
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine!" Joker replied with a smile. While it didn't seem forced, it must have been.
"Everything is okay," he said. He must defuse the situation before it gets any worse. He already has to deal with the Simurgh, another Endbringer is an even worse situation. "Can you control this Endbringer?"
"Endbringer?" he echoed, before realization showed in his face. "You mean Satanael? Yeah, I can, no problem."
"How are you feeling?"
"Never better!" he exclaimed before presenting his abdomen. "My injury's even healed."
"Right, you had healing. Can you do the same for everyone, as you did for us?"
"I'll do you one better. Satanael," Joker yelled, pointing a finger at the air, "Rebel's Guard!"
The Endbringer, Satanael, flared its wings, and blue flames swallowed the vicinity once more. However, this time, instead of dispelling the Simurgh's screams, Eidolon felt better. His body hurt less, his mind felt clear, his powers-
He flexed his hands as he kept staring at it.
His powers felt so, so good.
"What's going on...?"
"Alexandria?"
"I feel good, Eidolon. Great, even. I don't think I've ever felt like this since I got my powers," Alexandria answered as she glanced at him. "You don't think Joker has...?"
Eidolon shook his head before his eyes rested on a pair of silhouettes. "That will be for later. We may have a friendly Endbringer with us, but we're still fighting against another one."
Alexandria followed his line of sight, and both their eyes landed on the looming pair of Simurghs.
"Don't worry about the armored Endbringer," Eidolon said to his armband. "That one is on our side. Focus on the Simurgh!"
"A friendly Endbringer?"
"Shit, must be the end of times..."
"But if Eidolon says so..."
"Yeah, gotta believe on that shit!"
"You all must feel amazing right now!" Alexandria rallied. "Prepare yourselves! This is our counterattack!"
"Joker, do you have anything else?" Eidolon asked.
"I have a few things, but my strongest attack needs her to stand still!" Joker replied. "That said, I can at least throw this one out right now!"
Joker's Endbringer, Satanael, raised a fist and immediately brought it down. A flash of light followed, and a blast of energy landed on the pair of Simurghs, eradicating the two figures and the sand that surrounded them.
Eidolon blinked away the flashes of light for a few moments. When the flashes disappeared, there was no more sand flying around, nor were there two Simurghs. There was only one left, and this one was damaged, a few of its wings were frayed and burnt at the edges. One wing was even partially torn off.
However...
"Don't let her heal!" he commanded.
Waves of attacks, from Tinker tech weapons, blasts of energy, or even Brutes partnering with Movers following Alexandria's wake, flew off towards the Simurgh. Pieces of rubble met them, protecting her from their assault. In the middle of it all, Eidolon felt the sand begin to pick up again.
"Joker, do you have anything against the sand? She's planning to hide again!"
"No! I can't switch out!"
Eidolon clicked his tongue and switched out one of his powers for the ability to control wind. His aerokinesis fought against the Simurgh's telekinesis, trying to control the sand. At the very least, Eidolon only had to make sure she didn't control enough to make another sandstorm like before.
Light shot from behind the Simurgh, widening the wound on her already-injured wing. Distracted, a round of explosions got through her first line of defense, though another line defended her.
"Just means it's working! Keep at it!" another voice, a familiar one, commanded. Another salvo followed, led by a Dragon mech. The mech cleaved through the first line of defense, letting the salvo enter undisturbed. A blast of light melted from another direction while Alexandria rammed from another. The mech collided at the second line, and the salvo hit the Simurgh.
The explosions pushed the Simurgh closer into the light. She tried to weave around it, but Alexandria slammed her right into it. The light froze her for a moment, just enough for Alexandria to get a good grip on her. Other Brutes began to clamor onto her as well. The Simurgh began physically defending herself, using her wings to push someone onto another. However, she was too late: Alexandria screamed as she ripped the wounded wing open. Another laser flew into the open wound, and the wing burst open.
The Simurgh was down by one wing.
Flight. Aerokinesis. Gravity control. He began pulling the Simurgh from different directions while lasers with freezing and electric properties kept the Simurgh from gathering her wits. Wreckage flew towards Eidolon, but barriers defended him.
"Satanael!" Joker yelled.
Eidolon saw the Endbringer raise its hand, but instead of another light raining down on the Simurgh, light emerged from his own heart. Is he-
"Joker, what are you doing?!" he screamed. Was Joker doing something to him? Was he planning to break the Endbringer Truce to Master him?
However, he saw more motes of light coming from behind him. It wasn't just him; everyone else in the vicinity was affected. Light emerged from everyone's chest and congregated onto the raised hand, forming into a shape. The hand rested, pointing the shape towards the Simurgh. The shape of light solidified, forming into a gun of some sort. More light gathered at the end, as if powering up.
Joker's golden eyes glared at the Simurgh. "Sinful Shell!"
The armored Endbringer clicked the gun. Despite the silence of the shot, its hand moved up, as if recoiling. A large bullet shot forwards, ignoring Eidolon's gravity control.
Buildings, airplanes, and cars coalesced, turning into a massive drill, and met the bullet. However, it shredded through the Simurgh's desperate retaliation. The Blasters began breaking everything around her, making sure she couldn't mount any kind of defense at all. Eidolon tightened his control on the Simurgh, making sure she couldn't fly away.
The bullet shredded through the Simurgh's wings, placed as her last line of defense. Eidolon saw the moment the bullet met the Endbringer's face, and it cracked against the pressure. Glass-like fragments popped free while the bullet pierced through the Simurgh's face.
The bullet disappeared into motes of light, its duty complete. The pressure Eidolon was fighting, both with his aerokinesis and gravity control, disappeared. He let go of both the sand and the Endbringer's body, and his body relaxed despite the impossibility of everything.
"Did it work?" someone asked.
"Someone poke that bitch!"
A few blasts exploded on the Simurgh's body. Even Dragon took a turn, slamming two mechs onto it.
"She-she's not moving!"
"Dragon, what can you give us!" Eidolon asked, though he more than screamed it.
A wave of silence rang across the battlefield, under the rain of sand. One minute. Two minutes. Eidolon heard some metallic scratch from someone opening and clenching their gauntlets, expecting something, anything.
"Nothing. She's not moving," Dragon answered. "She's dead."
The first person to collapse was, surprisingly, Joker. He collapsed onto his butt, his Endbringer long gone, gasping on air.
Others collapsed onto the ground instead. Someone giggled, and another followed, blowing up into laughter. Another began sniffling, and hiccups came after. Eventually, those evolved into cries and wailing.
"WE DID IT!"
Powers flew and exploded high in the air.
"Idiots! Don't just throw your fucking powers up there!"
"Fuck off! An Endbringer's dead!"
Eidolon, he didn't know how to feel. Happy that they finally managed to push and kill a walking disaster. Joyful that he took part in such a battle. Envious that it wasn't him that did it. Angry that it wasn't his powers that changed the tide of the battle, not once, but twice. Despair at his stolen legacy.
No, he couldn't think that. He managed to touch that well today. Despite that, he couldn't do anything but play support to someone else that was a public cape for less than a year.
He was...glad, glad that they can now stop Endbringers. With this, people can be saved.
Despite what he did to innocent lives under the command of Cauldron.
"Joker, are you-"
Screams erupted near the dead Endbringer's body, and when Eidolon looked, he felt something fast move, the sand flying with the movement. Where he first heard the screams, he saw people moved out of the way, as if-
As if something pushed them away.
The Simurgh was gone.
Eidolon's head snapped into the opposite direction, following the movement he felt earlier.
Joker was gone.
-.-
He should have kept his head in the game. To that, how was he supposed to know a headshot wouldn't kill the Simurgh?
The Simurgh's hands gripped him tighter, and he switched to the familiar feeling of Yoshitsune. He no longer felt the death grip she had on him, but it didn't change the fact she was flying into space with him in her hands.
Was she planning to choke him out in space? No matter the Persona he had, he had no way of breathing in space.
He struggled in her grip, but it was a solid grip. The entire time she fought, she never did use her hands, using her wings instead to swipe enemies off her or onto each other.
He used his Third Eye to search for something, anything, to change the situation. Nothing on her hands nor her arms. Body. Head. Her... wings? There was something there, but why her wings?
No, thoughts for later. He was enroute to space, and this time, no cognitive airlock was going to save him.
...
Joker wanted to slap himself.
His body shimmered as he passed into the Metaverse. He wasn't sure if there would be repercussions to entering the Metaverse so close to the Simurgh, but he'd rather not die now.
In the Metaverse, he appeared underneath the cognitive Endbringer's grip. His grapple hook flew, wrapping around her forearm. He managed to get a good look at her while the line pulled him up.
She was a mess, thanks to the cognition that she was finally "dead." Her feathers and hair are all frayed, far more than he saw from the real her, and there was a huge hole on her head. This one was similar to the real damage Sinful Shell caused.
He finally escaped her clutches, but he was still in the air with her. He can just jump down and emerge in reality, but that wouldn't mean escaping her. She could still come down to get him back.
No. He had to deal with her, here and now. She was damaged as she is. She had to be close to death. There was no way she'd risk being so close to someone when she had psychokinetic powers. She could have flown away, but she grabbed him instead.
Joker couldn't contain his grin. This... All of this was a final act of desperation.
Then fine, he'll answer with his own.
When he said he was out of juice earlier, he wasn't lying. But, after summoning Satanael, he could do it, his own final push.
Matarakuja from Trumpeter.
He emerged in reality, right on the Simurgh's hand. As soon as he landed, he ran up her arm, calling for Debilitate.
Her opposite hand tried to swipe at him, but he dropped down and then used the grappling hook to swing under the arm then above her head.
Yoshitsune. Charge.
He landed on the crown of her head, his palm on her head.
From the bottom of his lungs, he screamed, "Hassou Tobi!"
The maniacal grin of the dead general nearly split his face as he began to hack the Endbringer.
Eight slashes, filled to the brim with power through Matarakuja and Charge while the enemy had weaker defenses under Debilitate. However, he'd seen the power the capes brought to the table before, and random slashes wouldn't work.
No, to make this work, he had to concentrate all his attack at nearly one spot, where he had seen something before. And that's where he had Yoshitsune focus: at the Simurgh's back, where most of the wings attached to the main body. One wing was down already, so all he had to do was focus on the remaining five.
For this, he was glad the Simurgh had very large wings. They were big enough that he could cut multiple wings with one strike.
And so, that's what he did.
One strike wasn't enough.
A second strike managed to create an opening. Healing began.
Third strike came right after before the healing could fully heal the wounds.
Fourth and Fifth strikes came together to create an even bigger wound before it could heal the first.
Sixth.
Seventh.
Joker saw it, two of the wings hanging by a thread.
Eighth, and he managed to cut through three wings. He managed to cut off the largest, the middle-sized, and then the second smallest wings. With Third Eye active, he glared at the wings, trying to find which wing had that thing he saw before. However, he didn't even need to use it.
The largest wing flew off, leaving behind everything else-
Oh shit.
-in free fall.
Yoshitsune should be alright to use here. His ability to nullify physical damage should protect me from hitting the ground. I need to- What's that?
He saw something coming from his face. He tried to wipe it and felt a familiar squelch. He tried to find the source, which came from his nose. He was in free fall, having a nosebleed.
What do I need to do? Widen my body? Get as much surface area or something?
He turned around, now facing the incoming ground. He stretched his body, but something felt off. He couldn't concentrate, and his vision began to darken.
The last thing he saw was a blue and white light streak coming at him before losing consciousness.
-.-
Author's Notes:
Hello, thanks for reading another chapter. I mentioned in my previous chapter that ch10 was split into 2 chapters, with this the second. The chapter has gotten out of hand from the original outline. The main-main beats are still there, but I originally had the other capes standing up next to Joker to stop the Simurgh in a last-ditch attempt, but I realized that it was kinda meh, and I wrote this version instead.
Dragon, while I think she's nice, she's still calculating. She was willing to kill other capes, even heroes, if she thought they couldn't be saved anymore. With the current situation where even the Triumvirate are no longer there, she's forced to pull the plug.
Going before that, the Triumvirate Joker vs Simurgh fight, I personally think that he would play support when fighting with who are essentially the pros of the pros in the hero scene. He's also the only person that can heal and buff. And, well, I felt that his time to shine is more in the next section rather than before.
As for the Simurgh, in my research, it turns out that, outside of Scion, no one is actually immune to the Simurgh's pretercognition. Eidolon isn't normally a blind spot for her unless he uses Thinker powers. There's really no part from the Simurgh that says he's a blind spot like with Scion. That said, it doesn't mean he can't stop her as he should just use a Thinker power to hide himself from her. He's built to stop the Endbringers, but only when he brings out the right combination of powers.
I also have ideas on what comes next, especially as a sort of reaction to this plus what's being set up.
For those that follow my other fic, Devil's Messiah, I still want to write it, but I'm still feeling this fic atm. I do plan on writing the next outline, but the release is up in the air. I'll mention this in my FFN profile update.