Chapter 130: 128 The First Endbringer
For obvious reasons, I can't exactly read Dragon's robot like I can a person, so I have no idea if she's secretly judging us or if she's genuinely just a nice person, but she doesn't show any aversion to treating us like normal people, despite the fact that she's a hero and we.. are not.
"In short, during Endbringer fights, capes get split up based on abilities. Now that Alexandria is here, she will be leading anyone who is confident they can take a hit from an Endbringer and get up afterwards, or anyone who can create expendable forces. Would I be correct in assuming you two will be joining her on the front lines?"
I give her a thumbs up with one hand and reach back with the other to grab hold of Crawler so he doesn't run off in his excitement to get hurt.
It's like holding a dog by it's collar, except he doesn't have a collar so I'm just digging into his flesh where he has less scales with my fingers.
"Okay then, now I all that is left is you need to put on this bracelet," she says while her robot holds forward a pair of high tech looking bracelets with a little screen on them, "these will track your location, as well as the location of Behemoth, though I don't think losing sight of him will be an issue here."
As she's talking, she watches as I put one of the bracelets on my left wrist, and then hold the other towards Crawler only to pause.
Where the fuck am I supposed to put it? His legs are like tree trunks and only his freaky arm things coming out of his front leg's knee joints aren't super thick, but even then they aren't thin enough for the armband.
"Ah, I see that could be an issue," Dragon says, voicing my thoughts, but then I get an idea and give her a smile.
"Don't worry 'bout it, I got this.~"
Without giving her an opportunity to respond, I coat my hands in my power and thrust them both into one of Crawler's bigger eyes, digging a good foot into his body before depositing the armband there and yanking my hands back out.
Problem solved.
Man, I'm so freakin' smart.
"Er, right," she stutters as I start licking the blood and viscera off of my fingers, "anyway. The band has two buttons, one on either side. The button to the left lets you send messages to everyone else wearing an armband, though do note that there will be a three to five second delay for you, this is the case for all non protectorate or veteran capes in order to avoid needless chatter. But if you must skip this small delay for whatever reason, then simply speak the words 'Hard Override' before saying whatever is so urgent. Abusing this feature will lose you your ability to send any further messages."
Ah, shit. I kinda blanked out about halfway through what she was saying. That was a lot of words and Crawler keeps trying to run off.
Basically, press the left button to talk to people, but don't do it?
Eh, I get the feeling the band's just gonna break anyway, since I am fully planning on jumping into Behemoth's kill aura.
Only after Crawler goes first of course, if he can survive it then I'll probably be fine. Maybe.
Heedless of my thoughts, Dragon continues on, either not noticing my absentness, or completely ignoring the way Crawler clearly hasn't listened to a single word she's said.
"The second button is a ping. Use it in the case of an emergency, to alert others if you are in danger or hurt. If it is not an emergency, but you want assistance, press both buttons, tell the armband what you want and a program of mine will sort the request by urgency and provide assistance. The band will also be tracking your condition, and will automatically send out a ping if you are critically injured."
Even listening with half an ear as I am, I catch that last part and laugh slightly.
"I uh, I think it'd prolly be best to just disable that last function on our bands. Regeneration y'know?"
She seems to get my meaning as the band on my wrist pings lightly, and when I turn back up to Dragon, I see her robot leaving, speaking a short final message over it's shoulder as she does so.
"Good luck."
That just makes me laugh again.
Endbringers really do change everything, if a hero is wishing two kill orders good luck.
What a joke.
Turning away from the tents, I face Behemoth once again, and briefly observe the location.
Wherever we are, it's a relatively small place, probably only a hundred thousand or so people living here, which makes it rather small scale compared to most Endbringer attacks that end the lives of millions.
I'm pretty sure it was nearly ten million people that died when Leviathan sank Kyushu.
The low population means that they don't have any Endbringer shelters, so I'm pretty sure this whole town is not going to exist tomorrow, provided we don't push him away before he reaches his target.
Not that it's a challenge to figure out what's attracted Behemoth's attention, I think as my eyes find themselves drawn to the nuclear power plant ahead of his path of destruction.
Half the town is already in flames, the smog choking the sky of it's light, even as various flashes of colour dance around his body, the result of hundreds of capes launching everything they've got at the Big Guy.
Watching a ball of molten rock launch itself out of the ground and at a group of fliers, the pumping in my veins becomes too much for me to just keep standing and watching.
So with a far too wide smile, I jump onto Crawler's back and immediately start ripping his back open and stuffing my face.
What? Regenerating from Eidolon's attacks has made me hungry, and Crawler can seemingly regenerate indefinitely. Plus I'm actually making him a little tougher every bite I take, which is probably going to help out.
Thankfully, I don't need to tell Crawler anything for him to get the message, as he starts bounding down the small hill the tents are set up on, running towards a source of terror for the entire planet with the kind of glee only the truly insane could match.
Thinking about it, we might just be the only capes present that are actually 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 to this.
Oh well, I'd rather be insane with a smile than sane with a frown.
As we are travelling, the band on my arm keeps ringing out, naming the dead and dying as they fall. "𝘚𝘶𝘻𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥, 𝘌4. 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯, 𝘌4. 𝘎𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥, 𝘌4. 𝘗𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥, 𝘌5. 𝘔𝘢𝘤𝘩 1 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥, 𝘋5. 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘔𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯, 𝘋4. 𝘎𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯, 𝘋4."
Now, I know there's probably some motivational reason for this, either that or they just wanted to keep the proper, solemn atmosphere by constantly reminding everyone just how dire the situation here is.
But Crawler and I just end up laughing our asses off as we get closer, finding the whole idea too funny.
Like, seriously. Have these people never taken a motivation speech class or something? No one likes knowing they're probably going to die, but whatever, it's not my job, and it's funny anyway.
Some of these people have really dumb names, like 'Frogman' which, admittedly, is mostly funny because I've been hearing quite a lot of vaguely French sounding names.
The only annoying thing is that I keep choking on my food thanks to the laughter.
This is way better than getting bullied by the meanie ol' Eidipie.
But, as with all good things, it eventually comes to an end as we near Behemoth.
Most of the capes seems to be keeping at least a hundred feet away at all times, with only a small few actually engaging him inside of his kill aura, and even then, it's mostly just Alexandria who is flying around him like an annoying fly.
Except she's a fly that can hit 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 hard. Her impacts echoing and displacing the air around her, even making him stumble back a step every now and then.
However, before we can get any closer, Behemoth brings his giant hands together with a surprising amount of speed, and the next thing I know, I'm deaf and blind, the now familiar feeling of my eyes exploding filling me in on what's happening.
When I can see again, Behemoth is in a small crater, the buildings that managed to stay standing around him now nothing but rubble, and the cloud of smoke above him filling back in after parting slightly.
It takes me an embarrassing amount of time to realise that I'm not on Crawler's back anymore, but lying on some rubble.
Looking at the destruction caused by such a simple gesture, I can't help but whistle appreciatively.
Damn, and that was just 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤.
As he was listening, a sudden storm of lighting erupts around him, catching a few fliers who were tying to get close, causing my band to ring out again, but I ignore it in favour of locking my eyes on where I just spotted Crawler.
He is running through the lighting storm without a care, having long since become resistant towards electricity, and I watch with rapt attention as he crosses into the kill zone.
Immediately, Crawler bursts into flame, his entire body glowing a deep red as flames burst out of his mouth, but he doesn't lose his stride, roaring in a mix of pain an 𝘦𝘶𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢 as he jumps into Behemoth's leg, pausing it's movement but not pushing it back.
Welp, guess it's now or never then.
Pulling forth the full depth of my power, I grow in hight and width, armour covering me head to toe, leaving no inch vulnerable, with every extra limb available and ready to move, I charge after Crawler, aiming for the other leg.
I enter the kill zone at the same time that a dozen Blasters launch a barrage at his face, failing to even faze him as he returns the effort with a beam of lightning as thick as a building.
Immediately, pain consumes me, heat like I have never felt before erupting from my very being.
Suddenly I understand Crawler's response as I instinctually 𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘳, fire exploding out of my throat as I scream out.
It hurts, but I've never felt so 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘮 and I can't decide my feeling on it, only that I am 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 and that it's 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦.
The temperature seems to rise with every step I take, my body melting from the heat and reforming in the same instance as I approach.
Absently, I notice an enormous clawed hand swing down and impacts Crawler, who managed to make his way up to it's hip, sending him flying with a deafening 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘮 that levels an entire block of buildings just from the shockwave alone.
Leaping forward, I plan on following Crawler's example and making my way up his body, but Behemoth meets my leap with a swing of his leg, kicking me in the face.
Almost immediately, I feel myself die as my head is reduced to pulp and my body flattened just from the force of his strike alone.
Instinctively, my ribbons wrap around the leg, and when my body is sent flying from the blow, my momentum is abruptly halted as the ribbons extend as far as they are able.
My head regenerates just in time to feel half of my ribbons 𝘳𝘪𝘱 out of my back, making me let out an uncontrolled moan at the overwhelming 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 suffusing me.
With a grin of truly insane proportions, I feel my power pump itself into overdrive, my senses and instincts snapping into focus, sharper than ever before.
I feel my body start to cannibalise itself, turning my own flesh into fuel for my power as I regenerate faster than ever before, my ribbons pulling me back to the Beasty before I can even think about it, moving with more speed than I thought myself capable of.
I impact his legs with a 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘮 of displaced air, but the blood is in my ears by now and all I can focus on is the 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩 I feel under my feet as his skin cracks.
Without stopping, I start running up his leg, my clawed hands and feet digging into his solid flesh as I rapidly ascend.
The constant pain is starting to cloud my mind, but as with everything else, I ignore it in favour of digging into his chest, ripping into his flesh with everything I have.
Claws, tentacles, wings and their projectiles, even my teeth. I throw everything I have into digging into the Beasty, my everything consumed by this singular thought.
No matter the impacts that rain on my back, or the fire and lightning that melts my flesh, I do not pause, not until my sight is abruptly overtaken by a bright white light.
Clarity returns, if only for a moment as I stare at the bright white light radiating from Beasty's body.
The next instant, I am in the air, flying through the sky; the sound of the wind rushing past my ears can hardly even be heard over the constant ringing.
It's only when they regenerate that I realise my eyes were gone again, and I only manage to catch a glimpse of Behemoth and the area around him before my body smashes into and through several buildings, eventually coming to a stop after digging a trench into the ground several hundred feet long.
My final thoughts before darkness takes over my vision, is of a sight of pure destruction. Kilometres of land reduced to rubble, molten and glowing with radiation.
All with one towering Monster standing proud in the centre of a crater the size of a football stadium with a small hole in his chest and a gash in his side, ash and detritus suffocating the air as dozens of Parahumans fly around, helpless mites fruitlessly attempting to keep hope against this impossible foe.
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A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!
Charging headfirst at an endbringer is a bad decision, who'da thunked it?
To be clear, there is emphasis on the 'small' in regards to the damage lusia did to behemoth. He's the first Endbringer and the strongest, so her and Crawler obviously couldn't do anything significant him. Frankly, she barely survived, and tbh the main reason the fight was so short is cuz I actually had a big ol plan for when she first fights an endbringer, and I didn't want to pull it out yet, cuz things aren't ready, so she just got radiation blasted into a coma, basically.
Her healing isn't like crawlers, she actually has a limit to how much she can heal before running out of juice, so right now she's in emergency standby mode.
also, 300k total words now
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