Something Awesome Beam (Worm - FGO Reincarnation Chapter 8)

"Did we get him?" Asked Legend as he floated a meter over ground in his breaker state, ready to act at a moment's notice.

The plan was simple. After Contessa sent them a signal with her suit, they would fly straight down from the thermosphere at full speed toward their checkpoint. Alexandria's costume was outfitted with a tinker suit that took in kinetic and heat energy to store and then turn into, what was descripted as, highly concentrated concussive beams, from her tinker gauntlets, or can also be released as a wave from the boots.

The Triumvirate dived down, Legend firing his lasers at Alexandria to power her up, with Eidolon help with a fire power of his own. Once the target was in reach, Alexandria sped up with Legend and Eidolon following the plan to keep powering Alexandria's suit, while firing at the target to box him in.

The impact was a success.

Legend felt that their surprise attack was a perfect as it can get, but given the warnings Contessa gave them of treating this fight as seriously as an S-Class threat of the highest order, one can never be too certain.

"Oh you god damn cockblocking bitch!" A shout rang from the crater the Triumvirate made.

"Guess not." Alexandria commented. She clenched her fist, feeling the vibrations of her gauntlet letting her know there was still energy in it. Her helmet also offered feedback to tell her how much energy was left in the tank, but the physical confirmation was a nice reminder.

She had seen and definitely felt her punch connect, but Michael Chaser had already had his arm up to block her blow, and she felt something--an energy field of some kind--take on the power of her strike. However, he was pushed back, so some kinetic energy was still transferred, and if the pained grimace he had before the explosion obscured her vision was any indication, she should have shattered his arm at minimum.

Alexandria opened her mouth to say something to the Michael inside the crater, with dust and smoke hiding him.

"Alexandria. Do not." Only for Contessa to cut her off. The Brute superwoman turned her long time friend and comrade against the end of the world. "You can talk, deescalate, bargain, or taunt, etc. But you are not to threaten him, especially using his spouse."

"What happens?" Alexandria asked, wanting to understand the reason for tactical utility. It was odd that the Path was only now letting her know, rather than in the meeting before the operation began.

"I die. And so does the model I have of Eidolon." Contessa said definitively.

The statement was so...unexpected, that the Triumvirate actually took a second and think if they had heard what Contessa said correctly.

"What?" Eidolon was the one to look back and voice the trio's thoughts. Legend and Alexandria kept their eyes on the crater while listening.

"As an anomaly, he could cause some predictions to end up as a false positive on how he will react and respond. The vast array of powers he showed makes it possible for him to beat any one of us. The ones he's still hiding, makes it so that the Path can't account for them until he uses them. He has a probability manipulation power, but it's tied up to the experiment he's doing." Contessa explained.

"Then should Eidolon really be here?" Asked Legend, concerned.

"I'm not leaving." Eidolon said back, his voice leaving no argument. "It's only your model of me, right?" He began to pull for a power he never used before, something completely full and unexpected of his to use.

"It's the likely outcome, yes." Contessa said back.

"...Okay, then." Eidolon nodded and turned back to the crater.

Eidolon let go of the heat wave power. A thinker power came, it sped up his mind so that the world seem to stand still. It didn't come with a mover component. He let it go. Another thinker power, that showed the direction in 3d space a person would move in, with an road arrow growing out of them, up 3 blocks. Another useless misfire. Eidolon let it go. A thinker-tinker power this time, one that showed the ways of sabotaging machinery. With mental growl of annoyance, Eidolon let it go and pulled for something else.

What he pulled almost seemed too good to be true. He got an amplifying power. It increased the power of any blaster-like or shaker-like power, the only downside, if it could be called that was accuracy. The accuracy decreased the closer he used a blaster or shaker power near him, and increased further away from him. Eidolon smiled. His other two powers, gravity manipulation and the matter disintegration ray, grew potent.

"Alright then, no more Mr. Nice Guy...I fucking hate the actual villain for ruining that saying." Michael's voice shouted from the crater. A wave of energy and heat exploded out of it, and the Triumvirate tensed and readied for battle. The wave rotated and cumulated into a fire tornado that fired lasers in all directions.

"Michael, you don't have to--" Legend began.

"Ignore that, he isn't there." Contessa called out. "Alexandria, there's a device in the middle of that cyclone, destroy it." Alexandria vanished in a blur of movement. "Eidolon, that mountain over there, erase it." She pointed at a landscape nearby.

"That's gonna be difficult to cover." Legend commented.

"I'll work on it." Contessa said back. "Also Legend, here's what I need you to do." She went ahead to explain his part for the next assault.

Eidolon grinned. It's not often, outside of Endbringer battles, that he gets to cut loose like this.

The matter disintegration ray was basic in it's function, just a straight beam that broke things down into smaller pieces, becoming like ash, and then even smaller, till they become harmless energy. The ray can affect about 70 tons, about a two story building.

It used to be much stronger and now it's even greater. Eidolon thought. The agent giving him his current power had dimmed over the years like a dying star, now it was shining brighter than ever before.

A hue of energy spun and gathering, engulfing his fist.

Eidolon thrust his hand out.

And Mount Katahdin was no more.

x=

Okay, maaaybe I bit off more than I could chew. Michael thought to himself.

There was only so much he could have prepared for when he went on this trip, to summon the Servant that would help him start to counter the very likely Alien TYPE-being that most likely doesn't have the best intentions for mankind given the track record of powers on Earth Bet thus far.

It might be conspiracy theory, but after having gone through the apocalypse once and a half (second time doesn't count as he wasn't there to see it reversed), Michael couldn't help but see the writing on the wall.

And no, while he may not have the full picture, unlike Sherlock, he wasn't going to wait to "uncover the full picture", before acting on his theories and intuition. Even without all the information, Michael could still make some educated guesses.

Of course Scion was the origin of all parahumans' powers. It is likely handing out powers to observing humanity using them for data gathering, given how powers are designed and how their hosts are like and act upon having those powers. Odds are Earth Bet would be in danger once this alien experiment ends. Scion is likely comparable to the Alien God, somewhat, even if he doesn't seem to have the same spectrum and depth of power, given that Earth Bet's timeline wasn't messed with.

And of course, there's a shadowy group in the background of unidentified allegiance in the middle of all of this. Because of course there would be. It would fit the pattern of how grim everything is on Earth Bet. Also the stress his Karma Magic defenses on his company were also a clue.

So Michael came to this isolated location to do his summoning, so as not to pull his normal life into the cape scene spotlight. Yes, it is likely that he would have an easier time, since he would have Okita Alter on defense while he just focused on the summoning, but no. He wasn't ready to give up his peaceful home life just yet.

While he did entertain the thought on how he would fight the Triumvirate, if they turn out to be part of the shadowy conspiracy group, he didn't expect to actually have to fight them. He had made some mental plans in case someone attacked him, while the summoning was ongoing, but he can admit that he should have prepared better.

Edina and Alice should be back home safe, and doing some of the projects he asked Alice to work on, after she was done from her high of celebrating her new powers and life.

More importantly, he never expected someone like Ms. Perfect--Contessa--to actually exist. Even through the pain, he couldn't help the grin that tugged on his cheeks.

Michael transmutated some of the ground around him, to build a magical bomb with some pre-recorded lines. The bomb would go off after a while, making a fire tornado that shoots lasers. It would actually be pretty weak, just something big with a lot of flash and light to distract his opponents, while he tactically retreated. An actual magic bomb that does make a fire tornado with homing lasers, with some actual oomph behind it, would take too long to forge mid-battle.

Michael throw the finished distract bomb to the top of the hole he was in, and light up his Magic Circuits, calling up and constructing spells around him, and moved. A low-quality image but large range mapping spell to mentally know generally where he was, and the environment around him. Another to move through the earth without collapsing it around him, and give away his position. And one to direct energy into motion.

Michael got out the radiation filled diamond, and used it to power the motion spell.

Michael moved through the earth as if it was water around him, and he was pulled by a submarine in the desired direction. All the while, Michael had his mental rooms do a mental review. The three first-order tetration ran an analysis of the members of the Triumvirates, everything he knew from the media and internet, along with the few seconds he got of them in their surprise attack, as well as their actions, while they waited for him back at the crater.

For the other two rooms, one was doing an analysis of Ms. Perfect, as a person, and the last one was alert for danger. Realizing that he was letting his mind wander, while he's body acted, in a combat situation was a bad idea, Michael formed a sixth room, to focus on his own action, and where he was going.

Thinking about it, the battle had actually been going pretty well for him.

The dimensional energy from space compression implosion had actually been a perfect element to fall on his lap mid-battle. Separating and containing the energies of the different bombs pushed his multitasking but it was worth it.

The nuclear blast good as a distraction against Ms. Perfect, but the real prize was the dimensional energy. He already absorbed the radiation into a transmutated diamond to be used for later, the dimensional energy however, he contained with just magic circles to be used immediately, and what fun it was.

Michael blocked out teleportation with the dimensional energy, he was even ready to start affecting connection between the Cell and Ms. Perfect when he felt like ending the fight.

So of course, Ms. Perfect engineered a situation to make him use up all the dimensional energy he acquired.

Having Alexandria hyped up on enough kinetic energy to break the British Isle in half.

How much energy is that? A Tsar Bomb?

Worse was that all that energy wasn't dispersed normally (as in omnidirectional) , but rather concentrated in on a single point, in a single direction.

Of course he had to put all the dimensional energy into a defensive forcefield. Of course he had to use it all up to ensure, there was something left of him after that!

Did she account of my use of the bomb's dimensional energy, or did she get lucky? Or did I get lucky to have the energy to shield me from Superwoman's punch? Michael wondered.

The only good news was that he was launched so far deep into the earth, that he was hidden from view. His right arm wasn't useable anymore however.

Reaching his destination, in the heart of Mount Katahdin, deep underground, his location was completely unaccessible.

The small pocket in the earth only had enough oxygen for ten minutes. An eternity in battle, and more than enough for what he needed to do.

It would take too much work and too long to fix his arm. Michael placed his other hand under his shoulder, made a wind spell, and cut upward. He gritted his teeth and held back his pain with focus. A regeneration spell started eating at his Od, and his arm started to be rebuild.

In the meantime, through Thought Acceleration, Michael finished his mental reviews of the Triumvirate and Ms. Perfect. He had originally went with the five Memory Rooms design to deal with the worse opponent he would imagine. Himself.

Ms. Perfect was definitely a challenge. The first-order tetration room was to identify and analyze dangers Ms. Perfect threw at him, from attacks from her tinker tech suit, to traps she made, to maneuvers used against him. The second was to search his mental encyclopedia of magic spells to find the appropriate magecraft to respond to the presented danger. And finally the third tetration room was to instantly form and cast the spell. The two normal Memory Partitions were to actually move and fight, focusing on the battles, and last room was to think about the situation he was in, and the goal or result he wants from this battle and how to achieve it.

With that mental model, Michael thought he had a decent shot to eventually overwhelm, and defeat Ms. Perfect. With the Triumvirate in the equation, everything was now different. Michael frowned.

I got comfortable, and right then, she added a new variable. Smart kitty. Or would that be strictly her power?

He was going to have to actually push himself to the brink of his abilities just to survive.

What fun! Michael grinned.

The five Memory Partitions was removed and reformed. In their place were ten, the maximum amount he can make and continue to function as a person. First-order tetration was invaluable but mentally straining. He could manage holding up three rooms of it, but it was all for one goal, defeating Ms. Perfect, just different aspects of that goal.

With more opponents?

No, the mental juggle he was doing would all fall down. Also the more rooms he made, the more difficult it was to have a room be a first-order tetration.

The solution was simple, off shoot the burden on someone else. Something else!

Now, only one room had first-order tetration to mentally search his magecraft encyclopedia. Four were cast and held up location spells, each one individually focused on a Triumvirate member and Ms. Perfect. One was alert to danger and to act and move.

The last four were strictly for spell casting. He already knew what spells he needed.

Michael held his cut off limb, his new arm finished with the bones, and was half-way done with the muscles and veins--He took a long breath and let it out, as he centered his mind to ignore the real time feedback of his regrowing arm.

Michael began casting spells all around him. Magic circles appeared around him boxing him in a cube. Only one was for detecting attacks. The mountain above him should serve as a shield.

The rest grabbed the earth surrounding him and pulled.

Transmutating and Reinforcing material into metals and items required a lot of focus and magic energy, of which he had plenty.

What he was about to make was an armor he worked with Da Vinci on during the time he spent at Chaldea. The Ortenax was something of a passion project that Michael and Da Vinci worked on a lot in their spare time. The final design nothing at all, as it was initially planned.

However being involved with with such project deeply gave him an great insight on how to recreate it.

Some material he didn't have, like those drenched or made up of Mystery such as Phoenix Feather, or would take more time than he could imagine he would have, such as Aurora Steel. For those he would have to use scientific means to get the closest approximation, or just straight up Project them.

He might be short on time due to the threat of the Triumvirate, but still, there were a mountain between him and them. When they locate him, it would still take them a while to dig through it.

The danger alarm spell rang up.

Michael got the mental image of laser burrowing through the earth heading toward him.

This is fine.

Michael fired up defense spells of pure Mystery to draw and intercept Legend's attack. Sure making the spell run on vague Mystery with nothing defining it covered all his bases to stop everything, but fuck was it a prana drain. Still, the drain was within calculations, and he should recover the used magical energy quick enough for when he rejoined the fight.

The important thing he needed to focus on was the central information processing unit for the suit. His lost arm started to crumble on itself, as if something was pressuring it from all sides, till it was a marble of flesh. Then it began to transform.

Michael wanted core of the suit to be made of the highest energy processing material, while being able to connect to him for ease of information and energy transference. And what material would be more connected to Michael, than a piece of himself. The trick was to make the photon crystal physically, while it's essence stayed as him.

The danger spell rang again, this time to a threat from above. Michael blinked at that. What, were they going to attack the mountain itself?

...They're gonna destroy the mountain, aren't they?

No sooner did he think that did Michael feel the whole structure above him tremble and begin to collapse. Rocks and stone above him turned to ash, then seemed to vanish into thin air.

"This is not fine!" Michael screamed. "Shit, shit, shit, please make it!"

The effect soon reached Michael as the earth around him disintegrated.

x=

The mountain seemed to evaporate into heat and air, as the Triumvirate watched.

Eidolon gritted his teeth holding back a growl. He really should have expected it. Of course the right power was too good to be true. The amplification power worked as intended, but the cost was something he should have realized. It drained the other agent.

The matter disintegration ray power glowed stronger than he ever felt it.

Because it was giving out a last shout before going out. He should have realized, dying stars shined brightest right before their end. That power automatically left him after it died and a new one took it's place. A small portal power with a secondary danger sense attached. He left it for now. The amplification power showed him, how that power could make much bigger portals and evacuate massive amounts of people in the middle of an earthquake or raging asteroid field.

On ground zero of the erased mountain, was a giant iron sphere the size of a house. The sphere was shrinking.

"Legend. Alex." Contessa spoke.

The two attacked the sphere. Legend shot hundreds of lasers, while Alexandria dove to the top of the globe and began throwing rapid punches down upon it.

Eidolon was held back. He followed Contessa plan and observed.

The sphere was durable, able to take both capes' attack, but it was being damaged, and bit by bit being chipped away.

Finally it was now almost the size of small room, due to the attacks, or to the shrinking it was doing on it's own, did not matter to the Chief Director of the PRT.

She flew down to the side, planted her feet for leverage, and thrusted her fist with full force.

Alexandria pierced through the sphere and hit her target. A smile tugged on her lips. Only to realize a problem when she couldn't pull her arm back.

"Alex!" Legend shouted flying close, upon sensing something was wrong. His shout made Eidolon draw closer, while Contessa held back, but not too far from the group. Legend fired his lasers controlling them to avoid his teammate.

The crumbling stacks of earth rotated, pulling the Brute hero, spinning and then whatever was inside let go of her.

Alexandria almost hit Eidolon but she controlled flight again, and a small push from behind told her Eidolon used one of his powers to help in slowing her momentum.

"Thanks." She said, while keeping her focus on the leftover of the sphere.

Legend had stopped when the structure spun Alexandria, not because he was afraid to hit her, but because he couldn't get a clear shot. He knew she wouldn't be harmed.

Then the earth boulder broke, splitting in half as a disc of energy was launched from it at Legend.

"Dodge it!" Contessa shouted.

Legend was impervious to damage in his breaker stat, but he followed the order just the same.

Or at least he tried, the energy slash was much faster than anticipated.

Legend blinked as suddenly pain came to him from his side. He cried out, and held his left side. Contessa fired a beam of light from her gauntlet, and the pain started to pull back. In an instant he was healed.

Yet unexpectedly and illogically, a scar was left behind on the light in the shape of a man.

[ ZAHĀK ONLINE ]

A voice spoke up, and as the debris of the sphere finished breaking away, a figure could be seen.

Michael Chaser was now in a tinker tech-looking suit, not too different from tinker heroes. While his looked very streamlined, it didn't seem as smooth or advanced as Contessa's.

Yet, the feeling of danger was now much, much greater.

"Now," Michael voice's came loud and clear from the suit's speakers. "Let's try this again."

AN: I swear I don't want to drag this, but it just keeps going. I have a family lunch to get to, so here's an appetizer I guess.