Songs I'd recommend listening to during this chapter:
Undefeatable from Sonic Frontiers
The Chain by Fleetwood Mac
Ranbu no Medley from Bleach (the original OP of the Atlas Fall arc)
21st Century Schizoid Man by King Crimson
She Wrecks by Starkiller
Take My Hand by Simple Plan
Black Catcher from Black Clover
Black Hole Sun from Soundgarden
A Little Faster by There for Tomorrow
Time to Say Goodbye from RWBY
Capabilities Unseen from RWBY: Ice Queendom
aLIEz from
Police Truck by Dead Kennedys
Koichi Hirose's Theme from Jojo: Eyes of Heaven
Weapon by Against the Current
Resister by ASCA
Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
Back out in the city, Vilgax was continuing his rampage, tearing through anything and anyone that dared to get in his way. He was about to bring out the metal whip again until a quick punch to his back got his attention. He retracted the whip and turned around to see XLR8.
The glare Ben and Vilgax shared at each other was full of hatred. There were no words needed to be said, no witty banter found in any of the other chapters of this story. Ben had thought Vilgax had burnt to a crisp from Heatblast's flames. Vilgax was obviously still standing, and still pissed.
Ben slapped down the Omnitrix symbol- metallic armor surrounded his body, as energy flooded from some exit ports. Vilgax tilted his head, a bit amused at the armor. He dared not speak- it was this mixture of fear choking his throat and this anger boiling inside him. He didn't want to be caught off guard because he quipped.
Ben bolted at Vilgax, a trail of energy suddenly turning yellow- Vilgax was suddenly struck with a bolt of lightning. Vilgax did not flinch, his durability was maximum. Ben hadn't noticed, but Vilgax' wounds from his attack...were starting to heal rather quickly...
The warlord seemingly shrugged off the lightning, though his form had wisps of smoke rising up off it. The Murrian's retaliation came immediately after the bolt faded, the metallic whip extending out from his arm and taking a swing at his nemesis. Ben was still faster though, able to run around Vilgax and land a kick in the back of his leg. He didn't expect it to really do anything but if he could wear Vilgax down, all the better.
Vilgax tried to backhand Ben but again, the speed was enough for him to dodge the hit and give another counter, a punch right into Vilgax's jaw. The breathing mask hissed as the last Murrian lashed out with the whip, wrapping it around Ben's waist and reeling him in closer. The alien warlord reeled back his free hand and threw a devastating right hook into Ben's chest.
Armor clanged against armor as the armored Kineceleran form was wrenched free of the whip and sent flying into the building, skidding off the road like a thrown stone. Rubble and debris went flying from the impact, dazing Ben a little. He quickly cleared the rubble off of himself and got to his feet, shaking off the dazed feeling before his eyes locked on to Vilgax. The warlord hadn't even moved, like he was just inviting Ben to come try again. Ben quickly grabbed another Dust crystal off his person, carrying a few of them with him ever since he found out Dust was compatible with the armors.
He shoved the crystal into a port on the armor before his energy turned light blue, powered by the Hard Light Dust. He'd never actually used Hard Light Dust with the armors before, so what better way to test it out then against the worst enemy Ben had ever really faced? Well...present enemies excluded. Ben rushed at the warlord, his energy trail now ending in what looked like a hexagonal pattern if one looked close enough. Some of the hardlight gathered up at the tip of Ben's tail, forming into a heavy ball and spikes. When close enough, Ben spun around and slammed his newly created mace into Vilgax.
That seemed to do some serious damage- Ben would have to keep note of that dust for future battles. No wonder Velvet liked it. Ben quickly switched it out, for some Gravity Dust. Another one of his favorite Dusts to use. Sure, it was rare but given his connections, he could use it rather freely.
Having his own body enchanted by gravity, Ben suddenly became much heavier on Vilgax's body and the warlord suddenly found himself falling to the ground as if he was a heavy stone, completely unable to act against the force. Ben deactivated the Dust, as Vilgax landed on the ground with a mighty thud.
The Murrian's breathing mask hissed again, really the only sound that came from Vilgax this entire time. Ben leapt into the air as soon the warlord hit the ground, spinning forward and hoping to slam his tail right into Vilgax's face. The Murrian didn't even flinch as the tail came down...only for his claws to reach out and close around the Kineceleran tail. Ben's eyes widened behind the helmet's visor before he was suddenly slammed into the ground beside the Murrian.
Vilgax quickly got to his feet before picking up Ben again and slammed back down. Again and again, each impact cracked and fractured the road before the onslaught ended with Vilgax holding Ben up by the tail. His crimson eyes narrowed at his archenemy before rearing back his right fist and punching Ben a few times, oddly not hurting as much as they should've. The Murrian then threw Ben aside, letting the armored Kineceleran skid across the street.
Ben was getting real tired of being thrown around like a ragdoll, and if speed wasn't going to cut it, maybe he could try and counter Vilgax's strength with his own. He went to press down on the Omnitrix logo to change forms, only to notice three spiked orbs stuck to his chest. He looked up to Vilgax, his right arm raised with an open palm. He was just barely able to get up a Hard Light shield before Vilgax closed his hand and Ben was sent flying by a trio of explosions.
Vilgax rampaged his way towards Ben, lasering the sky in hopes to hit Ben. Ben narrowly avoided them- Vilgax wasn't playing around here. It was like the nightmarish battle from when he was ten years old, except there was no even playing field. Vilgax had changed these past few years.
Ben landed back on the ground, and he wasted no time swapping forms- one would expect him to go for a stronger, more durable alien like Diamondhead or Fourarms, but Ben decided to go for a more versatile but yet still indestructible alien. His body melted into a green gunk, but it was quickly picked up by a UFO that came in from out of nowhere. Ben quickly spread out his body, so he could take a powerful punch from Vilgax- the haymaker hit the slimy body, but didn't pierce it. Vilgax was sent backwards from the attack.
Ben's body returned to a humanoid shape, as he began his next attack- Goop's stretching abilities weren't a joke, and were often underestimated. Ben's arms flew forward at a fast, overwhelming pace. The attacks hit quite hard for an alien with a viscous body. Vilgax's eyes started to light up, before he began firing his eye lasers.
The beam easily seared and sliced through the slime that made up Goop's body, but the wounds were quickly undone. The slime just pulled itself back together as quickly as it was blasted apart. The Murrian turned his attention to the arms of the Polymorph and tried to cut his way free of them, again only for the wounds to heal and reassemble. Ben had to smirk a little, well he would be if Goop had a mouth to smirk with, because now Vilgax was dealing with the annoyance of a quick-acting healing factor. Seeing how useless this was, Vilgax's eyes turned back to Ben...and then drifted up above Ben's head.
The saucer.
Energy gathered up in the warlord's crimson eyes before he fired off another blast, the attack finding its mark, knocking Goop's saucer out of the air.
Goop was splattered all over the area, as the UFO went flying to parts unknown. While Ben couldn't fight back, there was an added benefit- he couldn't really get hurt either.
...unless the Omnitrix changed him back...
Shit.
Ben prepared the next move, as Vilgax rushed forward...
"STAY!"
Ben opened his eyes, as Vilgax was stuck in place. Even he looked confused.
SLICE.
Vilgax's arm was severed off, as rose petals fluttered from the wound. Ruby landed next to the gooey pile that was Ben, holding his UFO.
"Thanks," Ben said. Ruby let the saucer go, watching the small device fly around gathering up the scattered fragments of Goop before his body fully reformed.
"Sorry I took so long," Ruby offered, quickly changing the clip in Crescent Rose to one of fire Dust. The red-hooded huntress pointed back towards Vilgax as a bladed boomerang sawed through his leg, forcing him to the ground. The weapon spun back around to the hand of Marrow, one hand still pointing at the Murrian to keep his Semblance up. The wolf Faunus didn't even take his eyes off Vilgax as the weapon returned to him.
"Don't mean to interrupt," Marrow shouted over to them, "but I can only hold this for so long!"
"I'm honestly surprised you're holding the guy." Ben said. "How's the scene back at the rally?"
"Managed to get everyone evacuated. Robyn's leading them to the safe haven." Ruby explained. "And back up's on the way."
"Good." Ben huffed, as he glanced back over at Vilgax. "Shocked to see you're alive, squid face. Thought Heatblast sent you into orbit."
"Evidently not. I survived. In truth, I had a teleporter…but your heatwave scrambled the signal and sent me into the nether regions of the universe." Vilgax said. "As you can see...I've had improvements made to my body. Even the army couldn't stop me now." Vilgax frowned. "...I wonder, Tennyson. I wonder if time has been as cruel to you as it has been to me..."
Ben went quiet. "...Time's been rough. That's all I'll say about it."
"And there should be nothing else to say." Vilgax said, as he suddenly broke free of Marrow's semblance. He rushed towards Ben, but Ben avoided his speedy approach.
"Shit!" Marrow cursed, taking Fetch and shifting it into its assault rifle form. He took aim and let loose a barrage of fire, each bullet striking Vilgax in the back. Despite all the direct hits, the Murrian wasn't even phased, simply skidding to a halt and quickly turning around, launching out a barrage of spiked orbs from his right arm.
Ruby and Ben sped out of the way, the former leaving behind a trail of rose petals and the latter simply turning to a trail of Polymorph slime carried around by the saucer. The bombs landed where the two had been and simply exploded on impact. Flanking the warlord, Ruby raced in and took a few slashes at Vilgax, the first two cleaving through his flesh before the wounds stitched themselves closed and he brought forth the whip. The metal tendril rose up, going as rigid as a needle, to meet the scythe blade. The weapons clashed before Vilgax pushed Ruby back, countering with his own flurry of slashes. The blade sparked against Crescent Rose as Ruby spun the scythe to block each successive strike.
Before the latest one, Ben stretched his arms out to grab Vilgax by the wrists and jerked him to the side, throwing him off balance, with Ruby ready to exploit the opening. She quickly transformed her scythe to its sniper mode and leveled the barrel at point-blank range against Vilgax's side. She fired round after flaming round into the warlord's flank, small bursts of flame erupting from the bullets' impacts, but none of the hits really affected him.
The Murrian quickly returned the tendril to its whip-like state and sliced through Ben's arms, freeing himself before turning to Ruby and slamming her aside with a strong backhand. He reared back the arm with the whip, ready to send it surging forth to impale her, but Marrow raced in and slashed at the warlord at every opening he could find. Fetch cleaved through the warlord's flesh, letting Marrow see the wounds close up almost as soon as they were made.
"Annoying dog..." Vilgax growled, grabbing hold of Marrow's weapon before kicking him in the chest towards Ben and Ruby. The wolf Faunus skid across the pavement towards the two, his blue Aura flickering a bit from the hit.
"O...okay...so he can just...heal from our hits as soon as we make them. That's...a bit unfair," Marrow huffed as he staggered to his feet.
"Yeah, try dealing with this healing factor crap when you're ten and he didn't even HAVE the bombs and whip," Ben said as he readied to change up his plan of attack.
"...and you still beat him?"
"Hit 'em with the force of a supernova."
"...I have got to start talking to you guys more often."
Ruby got back to her feet as well, shifting Crescent Rose back to its scythe mode, getting ready to charge back in at the warlord. "Haven't changed that much have you? personality wise, anyway," Ruby said.
"Neither have you...you're all still just naïve children playing hero to me," Vilgax hissed as he took aim with his organic grenade-launcher-like weapon. Ben tossed a hunk of debris at Vilgax. Vilgax simply sawed through the attack with his laser beam, but that's what Ben wanted. Ben quickly flew through the rubble and latched onto Vilgax's face, suffocating him and burning him with acid. Vilgax tried to pull the goop off of him, but being a 2000 pound single celled organism...well, it had its perks.
Marrow and Ruby used the opening to race in and began taking strikes at the Murrian. Their blades sparked against the warlord's armor with only the occasional strike in retaliation. Vilgax was more concerned with getting Ben off of him. But even with all the damage he sustained, it never stayed. When the red-hooded huntress or the canine Ace-Op moved to slash at another part of the alien, the previous injury they inflected had already healed up.
The warlord growled before charging up a blast, the green blob slowly turning red before being blasted apart. Bits of Goop splattered everywhere, the saucer trying to quickly go around and gather up the shards. Being free of that annoyance for a moment, Vilgax sent out his whip and wrapped it around the blade of Fetch. He pulled, almost tearing the blade from Marrow's grasp entirely.
The Ace-Op managed to keep his grip...only to his detriment, honestly. VIlgax pulled him in before grabbing the poor Faunus by the head and slamming him into the ground. Ruby quickly tried to free Marrow from the warlord's grip, slicing through his arm at the wrist, letting Marrow squirm out from under the severed hand.
Vilgax simply rolled his eyes before quickly turning towards Ruby, raising his other fist. The crimson huntress sped out of the way as the warlord's fist slammed into the ground. A few more shots from Crescent Rose slammed into Vilgax as Ruby sped around him, only serving to annoy the Murrian more than anything. Vilgax just tanked the shots as he reached out with tendrils to his severed hand. Tendrils emerged from the severed wrist and met the tendrils from the warlord's arm and reattached to the rest of his body. Some of Ruby's shots severed the tendrils as they pulled the hand back into place, but they just quickly fixed any damage.
"That's...quite fast..." Ruby huffed, as she stopped a good distance away from the Murrian.
Vilgax simply glared at her, as his eyes lit up. He began to fire a multitude of blasts at her. Ruby gasped as she quickly dodged out of the way. Vilgax was so obviously toying with her...and he was enjoying it.
At least, until the cavalry showed up. Vilgax's chest was suddenly pierced by a glowing blue stinger. It was so sudden, he hadn't heard anyone sneaking up on him...
He looked down at the piercing stinger with more confusion and annoyance instead of anger. He raised a brow and actually reached up to it, grabbing the stinger before he found himself being suddenly pulled through the air.
"Wait, was that...?" Ben asked after reforming.
Ben looked up...to see what looked like the whole Atlas armada swarming the skies. From inside one of the aircrafts, Weiss Schnee had her rapier pointed at Vilgax, a glyph on the other end. A giant queen lancer was the source of Vilgax's chest wound.
"...ergh." Vilgax frowned, eyes lighting up.
Two more gunshots rang out, hitting Vilgax in the back and breaking his concentration. The warlord turned back to look at the ship, seeing a second figure standing next to Weiss with a smoking revolver in hand.
"Hey guys!" Kylie called down to Ruby and Ben, "Movie ended early!"
"Did you seriously just shoot at Vilgax?" Ceres asked over the comm links.
"Yeah, and don't worry. I think those bullets will buy us some time…" Kylie grinned. Vilgax began to inhale the gasses seeping out of his brief bullet holes…and began to stumble. For some reason, he felt…woozy.
"Potent dose of nitrous oxide- nothing his system can't filter out in a few seconds, but we have a window." Kylie said.
"Perfect. Once he's out of Mantle...that's when we let the big guns take a shot," Weiss said.
"Speaking of," Kylie smirked as she and those on the ground watched as the giant Lancer summon reeled back its abdomen, before throwing Vilgax off its stinger violently, tearing through the warlord's flesh. In an almost perfect arc, the Murrian began to fall to the ground, still disoriented by the chemicals. Instead of slamming into the street, however, a dark portal opened up and seemed to swallow up the warlord.
The portal opened back up outside the city, far enough away that any damage Vilgax would cause would just impact an empty tundra. Snow went flying when Vilgax impacted the ground of the tundra, which only prolonged him getting his senses back entirely. His breathing mask hissed as he got to his feet, clearing some of the snow off his armor. When his vision fully cleared, the warlord saw something...odd. It was...Tennyson, but the colors he sported were...off. Red jacket and eyes, white hair...
The Murrian just raised a brow in pure confusion at this. Was he still under the influence of the gasses? Hallucinating? Or was this one of Tennyson's unorthodox strategies?
"The great king, now fallen. I feel pity for you, Vilgax." The voice said. "But I cannot excuse your actions."
"Yeah. And I still have some nightmares I need to deal with." Kevin said, walking forward and cracking his wrists.
"I feel like I'm more than qualified to take him on, no matter how fast he regenerates." Yang said, reloading her gauntlets.
"The Osmosian...you recovered," Vilgax growled, eyes darting between the three new opponents as best as he could manage, "Your chance at vengeance then? That's what this is?"
"Revenge ain't really my thing anymore," Kevin said, scrolling through forms on the Antitrix, "Just a little mad still, though." Kevin slammed down on the Antitrix and shifted into something Vilgax had never seen before. The warlord didn't let it show, but mentally he was curious about the strange Pyronite that now stood before him. It almost seemed like a hybrid...but what was the other half in the mix?
"You…" Kevin said, his voice low. Smoke bellowed from his mouth as he spoke. His hands became engulfed in red flames.
The other Tennyson rolled down his sleeve to reveal a similar Omnitrix. He slapped down the faceplate, and transformed into a Vaxasaurian- this one was different. It had a shell and...an arm with a missile launcher of sorts.
"Interesting." Vilgax frowned, as he shot his tendrils up- he began to unleash a powerful bombardment of attacks.
The, what Vilgax assumed to be, mutated Vaxasaurian simply tanked the hits, letting the bombs simply explode against his shell. Yang followed up from Vilgax's opening salvo and propelled herself at the warlord with two blasts from her gauntlets. She opened up with a flurry of quicks jabs, each one firing off another round into the Murrian's chest. He barely flinched from the hits, cutting the assault short with a quick and powerful jab of his own. Yang just barely managed to bring her arms up in time to block the strike, but the impact still managed to send her flying back. But with the blonde brawler out of the way, Vilgax suddenly felt a wave of heat hit from behind, courtesy of Black Hole Sun.
The other Tennyson's Vaxasaruain form added its own unexpected barrage to the fight, letting loose a salvo of shots from its hands. The ranged powers all but confirmed the mutation for the warlord, who simply endured the barrage before turning towards the giant, flaming form of Kevin and rushing towards him. He pushed through the constant stream of fire, ignoring the shots from the dinosaur-like alien that managed to find their mark. Vilgax reared his fist back and landed a powerful right hook into Kevin's jaw. The barrage stopped from the Vaxasaurian as Albedo and Yang raced back into the fray to help Kevin. The Murrian had followed up his initial attack with a flurry of powerful hits before Albedo's tail slammed into his neck. The blonde brawler launched herself over Albedo with two well timed rounds and, as she arced above Vilgax, fired off round after round into the warlord's head. The barrage gave Kevin the chance to break out of the beat-down he was getting and land his own good hits on VIlgax, slamming his fist into the Murrian's gut over and over again before throwing a ball of flame into Vilgax's face.
The warlord just...froze for a moment. They didn't...actually manage to win did they? This was Vilgax, after all.
Sure enough, the warlord came back to life, lashing out with the metallic whip extending from his wrist and slashing at both Albedo and Kevin, both of them able to block the attack in time so as not to take too much damage. Yang, meanwhile, dodged out of the way of a new barrage of explosives fired from the wrist-mounted grenade launcher the warlord sported. As the smoke cleared around Vilgax's face, the three of them saw the burn marks and damage they just dealt to him heal almost instantly.
"Right...healing factor," Kevin growled as both of his hands ignited and he gathered up both flames and gravity in his palms.
"Throw whatever abominations you see fit against me, Levin," Vilgax hissed, "It only delays the inevita-" Vilga was cut off by another shot from Yang impacting his face.
"Really not saying anything new are you? Just going with the cliches," the blonde smirked a little.
"…foolish." Vilgax frowned, standing back up. "For no matter how much you struggle, no matter how much you try to convince yourself, before me, you are powerless. When they see my eyes, they can no longer hide…"
Vilgax's eyes suddenly lit up, and he unleashed a powerful burst of energy. The energy beams flew everywhere, razing the entire land and melting patches of ice. Albedo yelled, as the ice underneath his feet cracked, and fell through.
"Albedo!" Kevin yelled, as he and Yang struggled to not fall in too.
Vilgax didn't hesitate, charging up another blast. This was almost too easy. He was about to fire the beam, but stopped when he heard something; it sounded like...an engine? He looked to the side, the energy fading from his eyes for a brief moment so he could clearly see the source of the noise...only for a ball of condensed ice to be shot into his gut and sending him flying.
"Oh, perfect timing the- oh shit!" Yang started to cheer before she almost lost her footing and falling into the water. She was actually about to fall in before something swam back up from the freezing water and grabbed her. Kevin had quickly shifted from Black Hole Sun, whose heat would only make things worse, to Black Parade and quickly floated back over to solid ground. In another flash of red, Kevin had shifted into Rainbow in the Dark before looking over to see Yang and the newly returned Albedo in his own monstrous take on Ripjaws.
"Jeez…that's a form…" Yang shivered.
"Be thankful I had this one, or else I wouldn't be here." Albedo frowned. "No thanks to Vilgax…"
"Yeah, yeah. How many goddamn aliens do you have?" Kevin frowned.
"Plenty." Albedo said.
"And how many can take that thing?" Kevin pointed at Vilgax.
"Many." Albedo said. A step down from plenty, Kevin noticed.
Vilgax quickly got up out of the snow, growling as he took hold of the condensed ice ball and tossed it aside. His eyes shifted over to see what had shot him, only for the Rex Ride to slam into the Murrian at full speed. The Murrian's tendrils wrapped around the machine's front to slow it down, his claws digging into the metal for just a little extra leverage. Energy started to gather in his eyes again as he locked onto the driver of this strange vehicle, another person he didn't recognize and no doubt another one of Tennyson's new "allies."
"You seriously think I'm the threat here?" Rex smirked.
Vilgax's tendrils quickly ensnared the boy. "It's pathetic you think I see that." Vilgax began to squeeze Rex, ever so tightly. "You're more of a...pest."
Vilgax slammed Rex around, bashing him into the ice hard surface. Rex yelled, as Vilgax suddenly tossed him into the others. Thank God he deactivated his Rex Ride, or else it probably would've hurt them a lot more.
"Grandstanding aside...I think you missed what I was trying to get at," Rex smirked.
Vilgax raised a brow before having the whip go rigid like a blade again, ready to impale whoever this was through the neck. Or he would have if two well-placed shots didn't find their way into his eyes, making him stagger back and release this newcomer. A hand shot to his face and covered his eyes while they healed, giving Rex the chance to exploit the opening Blake provided. Rex quickly shifted his arm into his sword build and started his attack, the massive blade hacking at the warlord, cutting deep into his body. The wounds quickly healed, however, as Vilgax tried to blindly strike at his opponent, only to either miss entirely or have the strike blocked or countered by Rex's weapon.
Tennyson had amassed an army, it seems. Capable fighters, good ones at that. Vilgax had to commend Ben's ability to find and befriend people like this.
Of course...it wouldn't matter in just a few moments. Vilgax had also been busy, amassing abilities and powers from what he could. Vilgax had modified himself to the point where...maybe the Omnitrix wasn't needed anymore...
Vilgax took a deep breath, inhaling a lot of air. Rex was weirded out by this, but he would soon find that this technique was very, very dangerous...Vilgax suddenly let loose a powerful gust of wind on the exhale, sending and scattering the team across the tundra.
Vilgax lowered his hand from face, his eyes now fully healed. Not knowing where the bullets came from, he gave a quick scan of the environment just to see if he could find a good spot for that sniper. When he didn't see anything that stood out, he turned back to the enemies in front of him and took aim with his grenade-launcher-like arm. He leveled the three barrels at Yang, Kevin, and Albedo, ready to fire at them as three more bombs filled the slots.
Before he could actually fire, he heard what sounded like two individuals running at him, both the same individual. He quickly turned and lashed out with his whip, figuring it was an illusion and impaled one of the two Blakes...only for a current of electricity to explode out from the duplicate and travel up the whip and shock him.
Vilgax staggered backwards, before the clone faded away. He had no idea what that was, but it most certainly wouldn't get the drop on him again. It must've been the Earthen mineral known as dust- Vilgax had remembered that most hunters had used dust.
Vilgax fired his grenades again, this time uninterrupted. The projectiles flew through the air, before quickly exploding in mid air.
Blake managed to weave through the explosions, shifting her weapon to its blade form and dealt a few minor strikes on Vilgax as she rushed by. The Murrian growled as he reached out with the whip and caught Blake by the ankle before she could get too far away. But he ended up being tricked again, as the Blake he had caught faded away and the real Blake had dodged out of the way. The cat Faunus took aim and fired off a few rounds, knowing it wouldn't really do much aside from annoy the juggernaut. VIlgax blocked some of the shots with his hand, letting them bounce off the armor with sparks as he lumbered towards her.
"Just like the others...nothing but an annoyance," Vilgax hissed.
"How's THIS for annoying?"
Vilgax spun around to see Kevin, now Steppenwolf, flying at him. Vilgax was suddenly struck in the face by his fist, force strong enough to shatter a boulder. Vilgax was sent flying through the tundra, using his tendrils to claw into the ice and trying to stop his movement. He immediately anchored himself into the ice, and halted his movement.
Right when he came to a halt, the sound of shotgun blasts filled Vilgax's ears as Yang rocketed towards him. The blonde's fist reared back as she flew towards the warlord, landing the first of a series of quick strikes, all of them landing on his raised arms. The hits themselves didn't exactly do much damage, so then why, when Vilgax lowered his arm, did he see her smirking? A quick series of beeps caught the warlord's attention and, by the time he found the source, the sticky bombs Yang had peppered the Murrian with detonated.
Vilgax's skin regenerated just as fast as the bombs went off. More annoyed than enraged, he quickly flung more grenades at Yang, to show her how a REAL explosive should be.
Yang quickly dodged the attacks, and latched onto Kevin's form with her string. Kevin flung her around, before Yang launched herself at Vilgax, striking his face with a powerful blow.
The warlord recoiled for only a second before his tendrils lashed out and wrapped around Yang's arms and legs. The blonde was quickly raised into the air and slammed hard into the ground, over and over again, her Aura flickering with each hit before a quick slice severed the tendrils and freed her. Blake quickly swapped out her normal ammo clip for a fire Dust one and rushed in, swiping at Vilgax again. The Murrian struck back on instinct with his armored claws just as Blake summoned up a fire-infused clone in her place.
The explosion sent Vilgax's hand back, but he dare not show any signs of an opening. Vilgax quickly shot some laser beams towards Blake, razing the area around her.
"Enough tricks..." Vilgax scoffed, annoyed.
"Oh, but we have so many more to show off!" Yang smirked.
Vilgax rolled his eyes, either this girl was just as talkative as Tennyson or his taunts had spread to others. The warlord took aim at them all before the sound of another portal opening caught his attention. Through that similar dark portal, Min stepped through, dressed to kill and annihilation in her eyes.
"Another annoying ally." Vilgax frowned.
"Just another person on the long list of those who've always wanted to kick your ass," Kevin smirked.
"Oh, I will make him suffer...but, I did promise someone an epic entrance. So he gets to deal with someone else first," Min said as she stepped aside. Someone flew out of the portal and took the sky before they rained green fire down on the Murrian, emerald beams slicing through him.
Once more the beams didn't slow him down, but their continued fire was annoying. Penny kept on firing her beams, while Min blasted him with some simple blasts of dark energy. However, Vilgax's eyes weren't focused on Min.
They were focused on Penny's movements.
There she is.
"How much longer till everyone else gets here?!" Kevin yelled.
"Another minute! Just hold him off!" Min yelled, as she threw an especially strong blast of magic at Vilgax.
The dark magic enveloped Vilgax, which one would think would at least somewhat wound him, but no. After tanking the hit, Vilgax leapt into the air, aiming his descent to get close to the android. He lashed out with his metallic whip, wrapping it around her ankle as he fell, pulling her with him. Thundering down back to earth, Vilgax slammed Penny into the tundra before Albedo, now in the form of a Polar Manzardill, let out a freezing breath that temporarily locked the Murrian in place. Yang and Blake looked to eachother and nodded, setting up one of their favorite combo moves while Kevin used Steppenwolf's powers to try and pry Penny free.
Blake dashed forward and slashed at Vilgax's face- she quickly followed with an upward slash, and ended by jumping up and bringing one sword down...right on Vilgax's left eye. Vilgax roared in pain. It was one thing to regenerate from pain, but it was to regenerate such sensitive tissue. Yang slammed her fists together and propelled herself forward with a burst of flames to smash into the wounded Vilgax with a full-power punch...that quickly turned into an entire barrage of punches.
More annoyed than anything at the current situation, the Murrian growled as he made a swipe at Yang with his claws, forcing her to jump back and give up on her attack for the moment. Penny managed to get free with Kevin's help as she positioned herself perfectly to help out with the warlord. She formed up her blades into several smaller arrangements and just blasted Vilgax. Any normal person, Aura or no, would've been brought down very quickly with the rate the android was firing.
"I don't mean to sound doubtful," Penny asked over the barrage, "But do we have more of a plan for this? My shots aren't very effective against him!"
"Concentrate them." Albedo said. "Separate the flesh long enough so I can freeze it. That should buy us some more time."
"Understood!" Penny gave a quick salute before aiming the arrangements to one point in Vilgax's arm, hammering into it repeatedly. The Murrian was about to reel his whip back so that could swat at that annoyance, but it didn't budge thanks to Kevin. The strain on it made it feel like Kevin would rip the whipe free any minute, even though it was far more resilient. Vilgax quickly took aim and fired a salvo at Kevin, hoping to break his concentration, ignoring the attacks renewed by Yang and Blake for the moment.
Penny's blades spun around her, before they released a massive blast of energy. The attack was far greater than what Vilgax had expected, as it blasted off his arms. Albedo's precision had to be praised- the arms were suddenly and swiftly frozen by his ice breath.
Vilgax narrowed his eyes at Penny, the wound from Blake having healed by now. He quickly turned towards Albedo and the others and tried to fire off a barrage of ocular blasts, only for the ground to start shaking. Yang and Blake leapt back as a cage of teal crystals erupted from the ground and encased Vilgax entirely.
Ben, now Diamondhead, brought his hands out from the ground in front of the portal once the cage was finished.
"I take it...whoever that is has been neutralized?" Penny asked.
"Knowing him? I might've bought us a minute or two," Ben said, the point punctuated by the crystals starting to glow red from within.
"Think you can hit him with a supernova again?" Ruby asked, turning to Ben.
"Doubt it'd work. I mean, he survived it didn't he?" Ben answered, sharpening his hands into blades. "But we do have numbers that go around. We didn't have an army backing us up last time."
"True. Speaking of, Marrow said their ship's on its way." Ruby said.
"Great. Let's see how Vilgax fares when we have a little extra luck on our side." Ben grinned. Suddenly, he and everyone else got back into fighting stances when they heard the crystals crack from Vilgax's beams.
"Let's buy Marrow some more time on that ship." Ben slammed his hands into the ground, as crystals quickly shot up from out of the ground, carefully trapping the opponent in a large prison-like dome.
"Damn, you're going for the death dome?" Kevin said. "You mean business..."
"The what?"
"Only use it to go mano a mano with someone. Very few people come out of the dome..." Ben frowned. "But, knowing Vilgax, he's gonna rip through it like plastic."
What's worse was that the guess was soon proven right. Even from within the larger dome, the sound of shattering crystal reached their ears, along with Vilgax's angered growls. It took a few seconds, no doubt for Vilgax to reattach his arms, before they all heard the sound of the Murrian slamming away at the crystalline walls. Each hit made the dome shake and the crystals themselves crack just a little more.
Ben frowned. "Okay, so normally, that'd be scary, but it IS Vilgax. That's just on par with him-"
"That is NOT instilling me with confidence." Kylie shuddered.
Thankfully, the sound of jets flying overhead at least filled Ben with some sense of relief. Ben looked up to see Ironwood and the other Ace Ops jumping down. Ironwood landed on the ground like a superhero would. Ben noticed something else- his weapon had a new attachment to it.
"Tennyson." Ironwood said, walking forward. Upon closer inspection, Ben could see it was a small cannon of sorts, connecting the weapons together.
"General Ironwood..." Ben said, looking down at the weapon. "What...is that?"
"An experiment." Ironwood said. "And my target practice is on Vilgax."
"Sounds good to me." Ruby said, shifting her weapon to its energy mode.
"Since this is one of YOUR villains, I suspect that it's gonna be a hard fight?" Harriet asked.
"One of your hardest." Ben nodded.
"Well then..." Cammie said, readying her legs. "This'll be a fun way to nearly die..."
Vilgax burst from the crystal shell, and rampaged his way towards the group- larger numbers meant nothing to him. This display was just the world cowering in fear...
The group scattered to the sides, letting Vilgax hit nothing but air. The warlord skidded to a halt before quickly turning towards his enemies and firing off a continuous salvo, a mixed barrage of eye blasts and seemingly biological grenades. The faster members of the quick easily wove between the explosions, Harriet and Ruby leaving behind trails of lightning and rose petals respectively as they closed the distance on the Murrian.
Albedo quickly shifted to his own Petrosapien form while Kevin had Black Ice's crystals envelop Steppenwolf's hands before both of them, and Ben, all formed jagged shields for the rest of the group to take cover behind. Marrow took aim with Fetch and gave Harriet and Ruby some cover, rounds either shooting grenades out of the air or striking Vilgax. The two speedsters of the group both reached the warlord at the same time, each going for a strike against the raging juggernaut. Ruby went in for a slash at the alien's legs while Harriet took a running leap and landed a devastating punch into Vilgax's face.
He staggered back for just a second before countering, lashing out with a swipe from his whip at Harriet. The Ace-Op's Aura took the hit but it still sliced into her. Ruby took the chance and reached out to the whip, catching it with her scythe blade and firing a round, hoping to sever the whip. Then they'd only need to worry about the grenade-launcher and his eyes...hopefully anyway. This was a Vilgax who had the better part of a few years to mull over his failures, after all.
"Foolish." Vilgax said, as a shield suddenly appeared from out of his hand. The bullet was easily deflected. Ruby gasped, but Vilgax wasn't done with his surprises. He held out his hand, and within seconds, a giant alien greatsword appeared.
"Ripped from the skull of a To'kustar." Vilgax said, flashing it. "Allow me to demonstrate Chikagetsu." Vilgax swung Chikagetsu around him, as Ruby was barely able to dodge it- the sword swinging through the air was able to nearly ignite it. Ruby quickly moved backwards, and began to huff.
Scary as that was, it was a cool weapon.
"Ok, big deal. You have a fancy sword," Harriet huffed, "Dealt with worse." The speedster Ace-Op rushed in again, ducking and racing under the strikes of Vilgax's new blade. Whenever she or Ruby tried to get a good hit, he either blocked it with his own armor, the energy shield, or he simply parried them with the blade. Ruby tried catching the blade with her scythe to pull it away from Vilgax, only for the warlord to reach out and grab the huntress by the head. He was about ready to slam her into the tundra floor until several blades embedded themselves into the back of the warlord's arm.
"Let...her...GO!" Penny yelled, struggling to keep Vilgax's arm raised long enough for Ruby to escape. Fortunately, that wasn't long as she quickly fired off a round into Vilgax's arm and raced out of his grasp. As Ruby raced away, a storm of ice shards sliced into the Murrian's body, accompanied by a barrage of revolver and rifle shots.
"Just for good measure!" Elm shouted, taking Timber and shifting it from the hammer into its rocket launcher mode. She fired off both missiles and the group watched Vilgax be engulfed in two massive explosions after Penny had pulled her blades free.
As much as it pains me to say, but no, this did NOT do much to Vilgax. Vilgax quickly healed from his damage, and walked forward, dragging Chikagetsu across the ground. He was displeased with this...display of power. This was surely NOT power- power was not something flashy. Power was given only to those who dare to lower themselves and pick it up. Vilgax had been at his lowest...
And he raised his sword high, and slashed down.
A massive burst of wind ripped icy chunks out of the ground, flung towards our heroes at top speed. Some of the chunks either slammed against crystalline shields or were quickly shot to pieces mid-air. Those who were able to quickly shifted their weapons back into a melee form, ready to overwhelm the Murrain.
"Is that it, Tennyson? All these years and this is all you can muster?" Vilgax asked, an almost disappointed tone to his words.
Ben grimaced. "I have this!" Ben smashed his Omnitrix symbol down and instantly changed into Rath. Rath knew he had to boost his game after Vilgax was unimpressed. Rath slammed the Omnitrix symbol once again, allowing his armor to power up his body.
Rath lunged forward, allowing the swirling, snarling red energy pouring from the armor to encircle him. The energy was forming into something, not a weapon that Ruby could recognize- Vilgax was tackled tenfold by the red projection of Rath's skull, threatening to bite him down. Rath began hitting hard blows on Vilgax's chest, and Vilgax groaned.
"LEMME TELL YOU SOMETHING, VILGAX, ONCE KING OF THE FALLEN MURRIANS!" Rath yelled. "YOU MAY HAVE MORE GEAR AND TECH, BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER! CUZ THE BIGGER THEY ARE, THE HARDER THEY-"
Vilgax simply fired off an optic blast towards Ben, not even letting him finish the taunt. At this point, Vilgax was sure that Ben's statement about time being"hard" on him was just a lie to throw him off. He was still the same annoyance he had always been...
Rath landed in a Rath sized crater, a few feet away. "Ooooh...Rath doesn't remember how the rest of that goes..."
Harriet shook her head. "Idiot..."
Winter stepped up, as did Weiss and Min. The tips of Weiss and Winter's swords produced some glyphs, as Min's hands pressed together to create a powerful enchantment spell for the two of them.
The usually white glyphs suddenly took on a more purple hue, the summoning glyphs appearing before the Schnee sisters. The two summoned fighters stepped through the glyphs, though both of them seemed different. Weiss' knight, usually with the aesthetic of a proper European knight, now stepped into being with a more Viking-like take on its armor, two horns jutting out from the sides of its helmet. Winter's summon was more interesting as a massive two headed snake, slithered out from her glyph. Well, it normally is a two-headed snake but, thanks to Min's enhancement, it was sporting an extra one. It was actually a normal body plan for the summon, unlike the normal King Taijitu.
Vilgax raised a brow at that and huffed, an interesting trick, but nothing special. He activated his energy shield and raised it in front of him, bracing for the inevitable charge from the two summons.
The summons charged at Vilgax, with the knight swinging its swords to break the shields and the King Taijutu hissed and slithered around the bastard. Vilgax reinforced the shields, and lashed at the Taijutsu.
"He's leveled up in terms of power- thought it was just his strength, but the sword, the gear, the tech..." Kevin frowned. "All of that stuff is at least Level 8 or 9."
"Did you really just...y'know what, nevermind," Harriet shook her head. At this point, that was par for the course with them all, so the Ace-Op just ignored it.
"No, he's saying there's a power system with how the Plumbers ID alien tech." Ceres said. "Earth is strictly Level 2 and below. Other planets are Level 5 or higher...and IMAGINE what that tech can do here."
"Oh...maybe you should update that for Atlas, at least," Harriet smirked.
"...if we survive this, we'll email you a whole explanation...and why that doesn't work," Ceres said, readying her gauntlets.
Min frowned. "If we want to stand any chance at getting a few hits in, we're gonna need to restrain him. Like, hard. Disarm him and everything."
"My semblance couldn't really buy you enough time to restrain him, sadly. It was hard enough to keep him in place the first time." Marrow said.
"That tech..." Cammie hummed. "Think it's vulnerable to my semblance?"
Kevin paused to think. "...maybe?"
"My semblance could be handy here too. Though...I'd have to touch his weapons or something while doing it." Rex said.
"And I'd have to be in range." Cammie added.
"Good. Aim to restrain, clear a path for Rex and Cammie, disarm him," Ironwood said, checking the charge on the cannon. 100%. And why not take the chance to test this out? Peeking out from behind the crystalline shield, Ironwood leveled the massive weapon at Vilgax. It wouldn't do any permanent damage, but it would serve as the perfect opening for everyone else. Green energy gathered in the barrel before Atlas' general pulled the trigger, firing off a massive green laser at Vilgax, practically blinding the Murrian for a brief moment.
The laser zapped Vilgax in the chest, knocking him back. To stop himself from skidding, he slammed his weapon into the ground. Vilgax's eyes were filled with death; that attack appeared to sting.
Blake's pupils shrank in dread as Ironwood smirked. "There's your kryptonite..." Ironwood said. Blake hadn't gotten a good look at the weapon, but now, she realized...That was the weapon that Ironwood had prepared for Ben...just in case. Ironwood fired some more blasts, these ones weaker but still strong enough to hurt Vilgax.
Each one made the Murrian stagger, his flesh being burned from each impact. Yang tapped Blake on the shoulder, snapping her back to the immediate issue. The blonde could see the expression on Blake's face, but she'd have to ask about it after they dealt with one of Ben's enemies. With the opening created, Yang was the first into the fray, launching herself at Vilgax with two shotgun blasts. Blake shook off her surprise and raced after Yang, accompanied by the others hiding behind the shields. Ironwood kept the barrage up, keeping Vilgax on the defensive.
This was...actually a little surprising for the warlord. He was actually getting hurt from this. No one could tell, but maybe there was a slight grin hiding behind the mask. This was going to be entertaining, briefly anyway.
Vilgax could see another blast coming- Chikagetsu snapped in front of his body to guard it. The beam hit the blade, and to everyone's shock...the blade reflected the attack. The beam went flying back at Ironwood, who narrowly avoided it.
Ironwood didn't see what it hit, but it was loud.
"Pity. You almost had an advantage there." Vilgax said, pointing his blade at Ironwood.
"The hell is with that damn sword!?" Harriet said.
"RATH SAYS WHAT!?" Rath yelled. "LEMME TELL YOU SOMETHING, HARRIET BREE! THE FACT THAT HE MANAGED TO RIP THE HORN OFF A TO'KUSTAR IS SCARY, BUT TO USE IT AS A WEAPON IS EVEN SCARIER!"
"What, are they powerful or something?"
"THEY'RE LIKE THE SIZE OF THE EMPIRE STATE!" Rath bellowed. "OF COURSE THEY'RE POWERFUL!"
Harriet was about to ask more on that, but that could wait until after they dealt with him. The speedy Ace-Op raced in and started off this massive assault, landing a good few punches into the Murrian. In retaliation, Vilgax wound up a strike and slashed at Harriet with Chikagetsu, only for the blade to meet the Proto-Tool's shield.
Rook managed to push back against the swing, redirect the blade's momentum and make another opening to be exploited. Vine and Marrow took advantage of the opening and slashed at Vilgax every chance they got, Fetch and Thorn slicing through the Murrian wherever they could. The Murrian growled as he caught hold of Marrow by the wrist and threw him aside, slamming him into Vine. The monk-like Ace-Op used his Aura projections to stop the two before they could be thrown too far.
Ben quickly threw some spikes at Vilgax, but he simply cut through all of them. He roared, unleashing a powerful laser blast that hit Ben dead in the chest...but Ben was prepared for that. He quickly slapped down the Omnitrix, as Chromastone took the full brunt of the attack. He grinned.
"Thanks." Ben said, before turning to Penny and Ironwood. "Quick! Fire your energy weapons at me!"
Penny positioned herself behind Ben and spun up three different formations of her blades. Green energy formed between the swords before constant beams fired out into Chromastone's back, adding more fuel to the fire. Ruby, Weiss, and so many others all turned to Ben and fired off a good salvo, adding more and more energy to the gathering attack, making Chromastone's crystals glow brighter. Ironwood was, oddly, not firing at Ben, instead keeping pressure on Vilgax along with Rook, Harriet, and the other Ace-Ops, despite his weapon probably being the biggest addition the attack could get.
Of course, Blake knew the reason behind that.
Ben began slowly walking forward, being able to withstand the energy blast from Vilgax's end. Ben wanted to say this felt like a cool way to end a battle but...a deep feeling in his gut told him...no, this isn't. Why?
Ben ignored this doubt, and continued walking forward...
As Vilgax drew his Chikagetsu.
"MOVE!" Ben called out, giving the others more than enough time to get out of the way before he fired a massive multicolored energy blast at Vilgax.
Vilgax simply smirked behind his mask and roared, raising his blade above his head...and bringing it down, cutting through the energy beam, much to the horrified shock of all those assembled. The severed energy beam impacted the tundra behind the Murrian, snow being flung into the air from the explosions. When the beam died, when Ben's stored energy was entirely exhausted, Vilgax simply moved the blade to the side and looked behind him. With a slight huff, he turned his gaze back to Ben and the others.
"Your trump card, I take it?" Vilgax asked, almost mocking them all.
Ben frowned. He had to remain tough here. He'd taken Vilgax down once before- surely, he could do it again. "You're really putting up a fight here...but face it." Ben grinned. "You're never gonna get the Omnitrix."
Vilgax's expression darkened. "What makes you think I need your power?"
And then Vilgax rushed over. Faster than the blink of an eye...
Vilgax swung Chikagetsu-
But the hit didn't make contact. At least, not with Ben. Someone thudded to the tundra ground, having taken the hit in its entirety.
"...the pretender. If only that was the real thing," Vilgax lamented. Albedo, in a last minute effort, had tried to block the slash, only for the blade to cut into him and knock him out of his Petrosapien form in a flash of red.
If she could right now, Neo would be screaming. She just looked at Albedo's still form in the snow in pure shock and horror, just purely stunned by what just happened. Her gaze then turned to Vilgax and that horror turned to full rage. She started making her way over to Vilgax, after quickly taking out her Scroll and sending Ruby a message. From what she heard, the red hooded huntress had more experience dealing with this guy.
The message was simple. What would fuck with Vilgax's mind?
Ruby looked down at her scroll, and paused. Vilgax...the guy was a monster, calm and calculating, and it took Ben all his might to even land a decent blow. Sure, he was overwhelmed way back when, but that was just when he had some insane regeneration.
Ruby paused.
Wait, go back...why did he get that regeneration again?
...Ruby's eyes lit up. Her mind made the connection- WHY Vilgax had that regeneration power. Ruby typed back a quick message.
Vilgax frowned. "I salute your camaraderie." He said, flicking his sword. "But you'll receive nothing else from me..."
The crystals of Chromastone's form started to glow again, like Ben was about to ready to lay into Vilgax with a new rage-fueled barrage. Before the fireworks could start, however, the crystals dimmed a little as Ben saw a quick glance of Neo walking up to the Murrian and forming an illusion. Vilgax was about to lash out again, pulling the blade back, ready to thrust it forward and impale Ben...only for something to slash into him from behind. He didn't even flinch, simply rolling his eyes and quickly turning around to counter the attacker, only for his sword to meet what seemed to be a glowing weapon of blue energy.
For the first time since he got here, Vilgax's eyes conveyed something other than pure, directed anger. Was...that fear? It had to be...considering that now, face to face with Vilgax...was a Fulmini legionary.
"What the-" Ben asked. That Fulmini wasn't with them, right? Unless...
Ben quickly picked up Albedo, and jumped back. Something told him this battle was about to get really, really messy for Vilgax. Vilgax roared, pushing back against the Fulmini's blade. The Fulmini, seeing Ben's confusion, gave a subtle nod to him, trying to confirm who it really was. Vilgax, however, fully believed this was one of the only beings in the galaxy he hated more than Tennyson...and he would treat it as such. The warlord unleashed a full flurry of strikes against the "alien", each one being blocked or dodged by the legionary expertly.
Ben handed Albedo off to Kevin. "What the hell is Neo doing!?" Ben yelled. "Is she trying to get herself killed?"
"No...I think she's giving us an opening." Rex said.
"Pretty shitty way to make an opening- enrage the squid guy with the race that destroyed his planet!" Ben angrily yelled.
"Eh, one way to look at it. Another is that he's too angry to pay much attention to two little humans sneaking close to him to disarm his tech," Cammie added.
"Fine." Ben frowned.
"We will help Neo distract him some more." Rook said, attaching a rocket to his Proto Tool.
"...remind me to ask to take a look at that later," Cammie said, gesturing to the Proto-Tool.
Vilgax was about to land another blow against the illusory Fulmini, only for a wire and hook to wrap around his wrist, courtesy of Clover, pulling back the Murrian's hand and letting Neo land a few good hits on the warlord.
Vilgax tugged on the wire, but he was quickly slashed in the back by Qrow. Vilgax's wound regenerated fast, as he swung his own sword at the huntsman.
"STAY!" Marrow yelled, as Vilgax froze up- Ironwood took this advantage to blast the sword out of Vilgax's hand, and it flew through the air, smashing into the ice and embedding itself in it like the sword in the stone.
Vilgax growled, more annoyed at all of this than anything. His eyes started to glow and, with every spark of his rage focused on the "Fulmini", he shifted his gaze over to the legionary and fired, barely missing the "alien." Another quick shift of his eyes and Vilgax fired another beam at Marrow, hoping to break the Ace-Op's concentration and free himself.
The attack on Marrow was suddenly shielded by Weiss' knight, the oversized blade being used as a shield. Vilgax was bombarded with more blasts, the most prominent being that rocket launcher Rook had attached- Ben had hoped it would make a BIG explosion, but instead, the capsule opened mid air and wrapped Vilgax in a net with heavy bolas on the ends.
"Aw." Ben frowned.
Rex and Cammie rode in, with Cammie's mid range semblance activating first. The glove, with the shield- it wasn't too complex. She could shut that down with ease.
Rex, meanwhile, had a hunch that there had to be some tech in Vilgax's grenade-launcher. Maybe some kind of nanotech that helped manufacture the explosives? It just seemed too artificial for it to be entirely biological.
Cammie's Semblance quickly got to work, the shield in Vilgax's gauntlet struggling to stay on before it shut down, without so much as even a glance of acknowledgement for the Murrian. The Fulmini-disguised Neo raced over to make sure Vilgax kept his attention on her, jabbing at him a few more times and being extra careful not to cut through the net's cords.
"These strikes..." Vilgax realized. "They do not sting the same way a Fulmini does..."
Vilgax's eyes narrowed. A matter of illusions, it seemed. Vilgax simply breathed in, and started to blow the girl away.
Neo tried to stab Hush into the tundra, hoping to just endure the gust of wind Vilgax was sending her way. She winced as she felt the illusion weaken, her focus on it starting to waver.
"Rex, I think now's your last chance!" Cammie called to the Ace-Op.
Rex quickly jumped on Vilgax, and put his hand to his arm. "Come on, please work!" Rex said, as blue lines lit up Vilgax's arm quickly. Rex could feel his nanites going into overdrive, burning through the tech like wildfire.
Vilgax stopped his gust against Neo and tried to shake Rex off of him, Marrow's Semblance starting to lose its hold.
"Come on, come on..." Rex muttered, the blue lines snaking over Vilgax's arm. Freee's effect suddenly dropped, Marrow having lost the strength he needed to keep Vilgax stationary any longer. The Murria flexed inside the net and broke free of it, grabbing hold of Rex by the head and slamming him into the tundra snow. He leveled his grenade-launcher at the boy and fired...
Only for nothing to happen.
"...I am so glad I was right," Rex muttered in relief.
Ben, once again XLR8, Blake, and Ruby rushed in, with the two of them overwhelming Vilgax with some hard hitting slashes. Ben was aiming for the chest, Blake went high and Ruby went low. Their agility was impressive…
The warlord was buffed around by all the hits coming his way, staggering him, but all it was keep him from striking back. That was, until, he found an opening where he quickly unwound his hand into its component tendrils and sent them out, wrapping around the hilt of Chikagetsu. He pulled the To'kustar blade back to him and lashed out, slashing at the trio attacking him and sending out a shockwave that knocked everyone off their feet. Neo's illusion finally shattered at this point as she hit the tundra floor. A few people's Auras flickered when they thudded
"From one warrior to another, a valiant effort. Truly," Vilgax admitted as he looked out over them all.
"I'm getting sick of this." Ben frowned.
"Agreed…" Ironwood said, as he pulled out his scroll. "Alpha team- deploy the strike force."
"Strike force?" Ruby asked.
"Surely you saw it earlier," Ironwood said, subtly motioning to the sky. No, to the fleet.
"Think that'd work?"
"If the power of a supernova didn't kill him, I doubt it," Ben said, "but...it's definitely gonna fuck him up."
Vilgax looked up, and growled. "Is this your trump card, bureaucrat? You think a few rounds of ammunition is your savior?"
"I'm just doing what I can right now…" Ironwood frowned.
Far above them all, two Atlesian cruisers received the orders and moved into position. The cannons on their undersides swiveled and lined up their heavy barrels, ready to rain fire down on the Murrian.
"What you can? How familiar that sounds. Remember this...'what you can' will matter little when you face extinction," Vilgax growled.
"What does-?!" Ironwood yelled, but he couldn't finish his sentence. Gunfire rained down on Vilgax, onto the tundra, sending shards of ice EVERYWHERE.
The thundering impact of the shells practically deafened those present, Blake and Marrow covering their ears on reflex. Ben quickly shifted into Diamondhead once again while Kevin kept up the use of Black Ice's crystals. The two Petrosapien powers worked in tandem to make a massive, crystalline wall, to shield everyone from the flying shards.
As the bombardment ceased, everyone looked up to see the smoke and dust clear...and they found that Vilgax was gone.
The group stood there in stunned silence, staring at the spot where Vilgax had been moments before. It was as if he had vanished into thin air.
"What just happened?" Ruby asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"He's...he's gone?" Yang asked.
"No." Ben muttered, stepping forward. "No. No! NO!"
Without hesitation, Ben sprinted towards the spot where Vilgax had been standing just moments ago. He skidded to a stop at the edge of a large crater, created by the force of the cannon fire.
"Vilgax!" He shouted into the empty space. "Where the hell did you go? Come back and fight me!"
There was no response, only the sound of the wind whipping through the tundra.
"Dammit!" Ben yelled, punching the ground in frustration. "He can't just disappear like that! We have to find him!"
"He could be anywhere," Ironwood said, joining Ben at the edge of the crater. "We need to regroup and come up with a new plan."
"But we can't just let him get away!" Ben protested.
"I know," Ironwood said, placing a hand on Ben's shoulder. "But right now, we need to focus on keeping everyone safe. We'll find Vilgax and take him down, but we need to be smart about it."
Ben glared at the ground, his fists clenched in anger. He knew Ironwood was right, but it didn't make the situation any less frustrating.
"We'll get him," he said, his voice low and determined.
Ruby approached the now human Ben, concern etched on her face. "Are you okay?" she asked softly.
Ben didn't respond for a moment, his eyes fixed on the spot where Vilgax had vanished. Then, slowly, he turned to look at Ruby, and she saw something in his expression that made her heart sink. It was fear.
"I...I don't know," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
He wouldn't know for a while.
As the chaos and destruction continued to unfold in the outside world, Jacque Schnee sat comfortably in his office, grinning from ear to ear. The election results had come in, and he had won in a landslide.
Ignoring the sounds of protests and sirens outside, Jacque raised a glass of champagne in a toast to his victory.
"My fellow council members," he began, his voice filled with smug satisfaction. "I am thrilled to announce that I have been elected as the new chairperson of Atlas. And let me tell you, this is just the beginning." The room erupted into cheers and applause, but Jacque barely noticed. He was too busy reveling in his own success.
"We will make Atlas great again!" he continued. "And mark my words, we will succeed."
The rest of the partygoers cheered and toasted to Jacque's speech, completely oblivious to the chaos and destruction happening just outside their doors.
But Jacque didn't care. As long as he was in power, nothing else mattered. The world could burn around him, and he would still be grinning from ear to ear, basking in his own glory.
Watts, however, sat in Jacques' office, alone. He had successfully hacked the election, and sighed. "I was hard pressed for time, even with that unexpected distraction." Watts hummed. "And of course he takes all the credit…no thank yous or anything."
Watts sighed, as he scrolled back to the photo of Vilgax from the newscast. "Still, though…you're an INTERESTING wild card…"
This was the start of the fall.
Just let me burn the night away
Oh baby let me burn the night away
By thinking of the simple things you say to me
That get me through the day
And it's so hard to catch your feelings
When you always run away
You keep me wide awake
You keep me wide awake