Phoenix Part 6

Criminals tend to be textbook people; different stimuli reveal different things. This is why the moment I saw those three turn purple from rage, I knew that they get trained but not experienced. They didn't expect the 20 separate barriers I'd set up in a pincer attack.

Unfortunately, I was a hair too late as Lucia, on instinct, fired a rapid storm of explosions that covered their entire area in smoke. My barriers shattered at the sheer destructive power, causing me a sharp reverberating pain from my brain. It was so bad that I got sent kneeling and huffing hot breaths.

However, rest wasn't something I could afford as soon enough, Beowulf came darting out of the large cloud so fast that he was almost a blur. Instinctively I drew a small rectangular shield on my left bracer, forming literal milliseconds before the beast came and slashed it. I forced it to hold firm, but even then, I was thrown to the floor while Beowulf skidded across the floor, clearly uncomfortable with this new speed.

From that alone, I realized how tough this fight could be. Of course, Rev and other power-enhancing drugs aren't the only power enhancers out there, but it still was troublesome. Depending on the dosage and or concentration, these guys could be anything from 2 to 10 times stronger than usual with the unstable aggression, addiction, and life-draining consequences to match.

And these guys seem to be experienced junkies compared to me, who's still getting in the groove. I need time to make the hand gestures for my barriers, plus immense focus and real-time calculations. But between both Omna's barrier and my little "ace in the hole," the numerous parallel processes are slowing me down immensely while making my shields half-baked. If they keep up this offense and break through my unfocused defense, the mental backlash upon shattering will leave me utterly devastated. This means I've only got one option: divide and conquer.

Once Beowulf started to veer back with his demonic speed, I let him experience one of my fresher traps made during my surprise attack. On top of my outstretched middle and index fingers, a small golden light sprang out, and in one circling motion, the platform I had set up beneath me sprang forth, slapping Beowulf dead in the jaw like a fly to the swatter.

His speed did the rest of the work for me, sending him through all six floors on top in the blink of an eye. I tried to tend to the others with that out of the way. Sting was the second to come out of the cloud, quickly unfurling his "hands" to reveal a supersonic slap on par with an electric bullwhip.

Using my bracer shield, I managed to block just in time. But it was an uphill battle from there as soon enough; my hands were getting filled, blocking a bunch of blows that sent me back. However, amidst the blows, one creeping sensation caught me unaware.

"Where's Lucia?"

That question got answered pretty much as soon as I finished the thought as Lucia somehow managed to get close in without making so much as I sound. I tried using the bracer shield to block, but my interrupted focus might as well make it as strong as a screen door as her claws ripped through both my bracer and shield-like tissue paper.

Another wave of pain struck my brain like a needle forcing me to retreat before I could get within Sting's range again. Using some fast movements, my fly swatter shield served as a hard cushion as I rose up the various floors through the center fountain.

Even though the disorientation, I had to keep to the original plan to the very end. Knowing full well if I stopped now, I would stay that way, pushed off the platform to a flying Lucia. She managed to dodge it without any effort, but that hadn't gotten for her. Sting used his tendrils to go back underneath the stacked floor before he got pancaked by my platform.

By the time Lucia and I became eye level, I had already summoned two small platforms underneath my feet. Time seemed to slow down despite the exhausting speed as we readied our projectiles. What did people use to call this situation? Or right, a Mexican standoff.

Once that time passed, Lucia didn't hesitate to fire off a small series of precise glowing feathers. In fact, so precise that I predicted their course, pulling off an acrobatic spin backflip before I countered back with a small squadron of cubic shuriken.

Lucia copied my movements to a T, did a tight backflip, letting my projectiles hit their intended target. All it took was a couple of swift motions and precise cuts before Sting knew it; he got buried under a ton of unsupported rubble from above. Even in her drugged-up aggression, Lucia still turned to her partner, giving me just enough time to take advantage by kicking off one of my mini platforms straight in her head.

Lucia was utterly stunned with those factors combined as she glided downwards back to earth. I was about to take advantage and knock her out with another big barrier. But my focus got interrupted at the cause of another brain-splitting headache that also sent me falling. The pain was almost blinding, and yet I could see the reason clear as day.

"Damn you Omna!," I said inside my head, sensing a shattered barrier from miles away.

Through an intuitive platform, I'm able to land safely, but I was now struggling hard. Sluggishly I raised my hand, constructing at least three cube-like constructs around the size of my body. Using one of them, I tried to finish off the still reeling Lucia in one blow, but as I said before, having so many parallel processes slows me down immensely.

So immensely that Beowulf made a full recovery, firing off a condensed sonic stream that bounced the cube back. I used the two remaining shields to block Beowulf's strong tail whip in a split second. I'm still able to stand plenty strong, circling my three projectiles around him in an unrelenting barrage that soon enough had the beast cowering in a crater of my own making.

However, my onslaught was interrupted when Lucia came back with a vengeance, tackling me so hard I got sent several feet back. I swear my sides hurt harder than any bad joke as soon enough, my divide and conquer strategy completely dissolved. Sting managed to come back out armed with hundreds of pounds of rubble tied around him from the rubble. An arrogant smile broke out on his face as his crackling voice echoed out.

"Thanks for the ammo Aegis, I'll be happy to use it!"

Like one of those ancient machine guns, Sting fired off a row of rubble right at me. Then, using the three cubes in succession as a spinning barrier, before I knew it, an entire mall section became shredded as bounced projectiles caked and trampled through everything in sight.

Despite my defense, the sheer velocity of the stone was so strong that soon enough, I'm pushed back into a pillar. Then, after what felt like an eternity, the cubes finally managed to shatter, shocking me towards the floor, gasping desperately for air. From there, the three beasts closed in with jolly fangs baring.

"Well, if Krimo's precious daughter couldn't draw her out. I'm sure that Omna would at least come for that rematch if she knew her precious sidekick was in our claws."

It was at that moment I realized that they were right. If Omna broke out of the barrier, then that only means that she was on her way here. And I already know what I would rather do than have her risk her life.

Because despite all of our little arguments, Omna is more than a friend to me. Because in her, I find a strength that had long vanished in this superhuman society. That same strength concluded that I had to end this here and now.

"I told you before, didn't I? But, unfortunately, I'm not as forgiving as Omna, and if you even lay so much as a finger on her, then you'll have to answer to me with your lives!"

With that, I clamped my hands together to activate my trump card. From dozens of feet above, eight hardy square pillars rocketed in from above at the speed of the sound. Like meteors, the hardy pillars rained down into the mall. From there, the Mutant Masters got forced to bear witness, as they bore witness to a wave of force that destroyed everything in its path.