4:11:5P1
Sudden curiosity is brought to the Fallen, who tilts its head up with a slight shift to the side, as though making an observation that it finds interest within.
Levitating passively in the air in a standing posture as though there was an invisible floor, the Fallen remains high in the air amongst the skylines of Earth 1's city, a metropolis with an interesting architectural identity primarily identified by blue towers that have a prominence of sharp tips, evoking the resemblances of ancient medieval towers with its conal roofs, though with a modernization providing a sleek rendition.
That however is how many of the towers are meant to appear, though most of the ones at least visible from the area the Fallen hovers at have been modified with varying degrees of significance, some of them now being gripped by colossal metal structures resembling rib cages of differing sizes, many of them consuming significant portions of the tower while emitting a blue-tinted field that levitates rubble within its clutches.
Other modifications are more extreme, concealing entire towers in an entirely separate appearance, ditching the sleek sharp style instead for simplistic cylindrical pillars made not of blue but gray, not of metal but a glassy material similar to baked clay.
In all directions there is an upward blue beacon composed of dense traffic of pods all of which flowing in the same direction: away. From as far as sight permits there are countless of these beacons, like a reversed storm, leaving the atmosphere above the cyan supersun gradually setting behind the skyscrapers behind the being, the sky an intense cyan of evening as if the sky was burning.
In front of the Fallen's body levitates Meditat, though his method of hovering isn't as clean as there is visible blue propulsive mist emitting from his feet even if it is dim. His cape waves wildly at this altitude same as his hood, though his azure fabric suit remains clenched tight to his body with minimal wrinkles, the golden metal pauldrons the most tight which glistens in the intense skylight. He stands stationarily, waiting keenly for a move with both of his hands raised in a boxing-like stance, blue flames dancing off his wrist and around his fingers, primed for action at any moment since his opponent needn't flinch a muscle to deploy another lethal attack, the last one nearly destroying multiple city blocks.
The strange fixation away from himself did perplex Meditat slightly, leading him to rapidly turn his head in the direction of the gaze, quick enough to perceive the direction of sight before returning his gaze forward in safety of a potential surprise attack. However there is none, and now that he can focus on the opponent, he can deduce from that quick glance that there are no strange sightings in the direction he checked, at least nothing unordinary that should call attention. He had perfect visualization and yet all there were were more buildings, some reformed others untouched, with traffic further away and the horizon beyond that. Yet the opponent's gaze is still offset, as though it was gazing off into its own mind, or perhaps because it was viewing something that couldn't be seen by him. Unable to deduce the reason for the attention shift, Meditat clears his head and focuses on the threat before him, waiting for any strike, knowing now his enemy's destructive abilities are none to take lightly.
Instead though, that relentless demon's subsequent act is not a physical one, but rather a verbal observation spoken with an intrigued tone: "Interesting, one of your allies was able to output enough Exforce in order to weaken my Pawn…I wouldn't have thought an Exhuman would be able to achieve that outcome; it's still far below termination threshold but it's still impressive for one of them. Although…are they…," before tapering off.
Initially this string of thoughts appears completely random and meaningless, especially with the few unfamiliar terms, leaving Meditat at first determined to focus not on those words but instead remain vigilant to attacks. However, his fists begin to loosen as his own curiosity takes hold of him, interpreting the observation deeper, abstracting the physical space of their environment. The reference to allies would only be the Bellators, potentially the pirates if they were mixed up as such, though it'd likely not be any individual beyond that set. The observation appeared to be triggered from an event oriented around combat or at the very least seeking damage on a target, but the only enemy present in that area was the one right in front of him; he had believed that the fight's separation would've left them safe from harm.
His arms slowly begin to lower as he finds puzzlement in the term 'Pawn,' or at least in its association with this observation. Only this one opponent had emerged over the course of the exchange in the mountains, there wasn't any indication of additional assets. Even then he was under the impression that the opponent had no intentions with the others, at least it seemed they wouldn't be targeted. They were away from the fight, they were safe.
The flames in his hands burn out as they drop to his side as the only logical hypothesis comes to him. Even if he wasn't aware of any other forces, he wasn't even aware of this enemy to begin with, he knew nothing about this enemy, he wasn't sure what its Exhuman abilities were if it was even an Exhuman, he was unsure what the armor was composed of, he was unsure of its background and how it knew information about him that nobody he didn't know should possess. This being before him was one he had no understanding of even during this fight, and yet he assumed that if it was distant from his team, his team would be safe as a result.
But even without knowing this enemy, he should've known that logic was horribly flawed. He had just recently experienced a situation where logic like that was proven imperfect, and he experienced the worst result of that event.
He saw him pierced though.
He saw half his body razed.
He saw her minced into chunks.
He saw her guts blown out.
All of which happened when he thought they were safe from the enemy.
Dread first locked his body in this horrible realization before finally permitting movement, allowing Meditat to swivel the other way opposite from the sun, away from the opponent, instead towards the direction where the other worlds would be, and his body thrusts itself with a boost in that direction, a desperate dash away from the enemy who had already demonstrated the capacity for civilian damage, yet dread operated his body to dash away from that enemy and hastily order in a grim voice, "Orial, transport me to Dana's loca-," just as he feels the heavy weight of the stone hand rest on his shoulder, a shadow looming over him cast by the towering figure who has reappeared right behind him, and before another syllable could be spoken, the nearby skyscrapers, the distant towers, the sparse clouds, the supersun, all of it fades to black.
However, this time there isn't a quick transition to a region on an Earth, or even a remotely recognizable location like the Moon, but instead there is a lingering in this black void where Meditat is unable to move his body as though it was frozen down to his every individual muscle. He's unable to even speak or breathe, suffocating himself and yet he doesn't feel the deprivation of oxygen as if there's no passage of time for the effect to occur. All he can do is stare at the sight right in front of him as the black void flickers ever so subtly, brief glimpses of rays appearing around him, all of which follow the same direction like a tunnel. Slowly more appear and hold for longer, the individual rays appearing as a shade of gray. However as they rise in prominence, more of them appearing at a time before flickering away, the shapes of the tunnel can be made out, and it's realized that it is not gray rays among a black void but rather black rays among a gray void, the density of the rays were great enough that it appeared the opposite. The rays are perfectly straight, forming the walls of an edgeless tunnel, a tunnel constantly forming itself as those rays fly forward with their own apparent motion all of which shoot past Meditat yet he doesn't feel the motion, as if instead he's stationary within this tunnel.
As the rays continue shooting onward past him, the gray void past them starts to partially open up like clouds being passed, and through the clouds there can be caught glimpses of another environment below, an endless dark sea colorless but for the gentle white glimmers. The cloudy effect continues to move, allowing different angles of this colorless sea to be caught, one of the wider ones revealing what appears to be the only spec of land being an island in that sea, too distant to perceive detail though it does stand out as elevated over the water. The clouds fade in and out, exposing a few more glimpses of the surrounding waters around the island further on, but more strangely humanoids standing in the water about knee deep, though ones towering far over the island as if that island is just a small surfaced rock, but the other possibility would mean those humanoids are potentially towering over the height of a football field. There's many of them too standing side by side, their texture difficult to make out, though the one defining feature is that while the majority of their body is like a human, they lack a traditional head but instead there are two large curved horns sticking out of the neck like goat horns. None of them show motion, they simply stand in a circle around the island, as if watching it, all beneath Meditat who's stuck inside the tunnel.
Suddenly though a greater concentration of black rays shoots past, covering up the sight of the strange island until soon enough there are no distinction between rays, the entire environment again appearing to just be a black void. Then the individual rays again become sparse therefore distinct, the quantity of them drastically decreasing to allow visibility past them of a new environment, one that is fully exposed in just about a second as the remaining rays cease entirely which leaves the two in a different environment, this one similar in the empty black space, though different in that there are twinkling white stars scattered all over that abyss.
In this environment Meditat is also finally able to begin breathing, or at least his body is capable of executing the process, though his suit has to provide oxygen given that he's currently in a vacuum. His shoulder is released, allowing him to dash briefly forward, hyperventilating after the lucid experience unsure of if time had even passed during it.
Despite an encounter unlike any he's before felt, Meditat is quick to push down the overwhelming bewilderment to shift his priorities that he demands, "Orial, transport me to them!"
He frantically waits with heavy breaths, hoping for a speedy pickup since the instantaneous spatial transportation was usually quick and had only improved in the last decade, hypothetically adequate in returning him to his allies in seconds. There were only a few instances where he was compelled against using the transporter, namely when approaching an unknown environment which was what led him to taking a different albeit more cumbersome approach to rescuing Dana, since he couldn't easily ensure that he'd be kept out of sight or safe and thus maintain the veil of tranquility that'd avoid potentially worsening Dana's state of captivity had they known she was being rescued. Regardless of if that delicate strategy held its true value in the end, at least at this moment there were no such vulnerabilities for an immediate transit, as at worst he'd be faced instantly against the threats that seemed to be ambushing the team, though if anything that'd be for the best as it'd allow him to assist promptly. There was no priority in covertness, quick action mattered most in this situation, quick enough to hopefully prevent any horrible fates his abandoned allies were now threatened by.
And yet, the response he's provided by his artificial assistant is: "I apologize, but it appears I have just lost access to all servers, including the Network responsible for that service. I will continue to ping for a connection, though I cannot acquire even a partial reach."
Dread punctures Meditat like a knife to the chest, his only response being an equally punctuated: "What?"
Hovering in the vacuum of space with a gentle orange luminescence grazing his black cape, Meditat raises his head before receiving the followup: "In fact, I'm currently relying exclusively on your suit's local computer, so my memory will likely be reset to this moment if it is replaced, but at least I am capable of interfacing with compatible equipment as the L.S.T appears functional."
Locked out of that greatest solution, Meditat frantically glances around while muttering, "Dammit…where am I…what Earths are nearby…which direction is the supe-," before spinning around, which is when the front of his body absorbs that orange light.
That light is emitting past the Fallen, who simply stands in the air, looming passively, the figure a more intense silhouette due to the intense glow of the great sun far behind him: an orange blazing sun. It's massive compared to his own body of course, even from a distance it is discernibly huge, though it doesn't have the exact same scale of the supersun. Even then, the ironically alien nature of the star staggers Meditat with a gentle backward thrust, unable to emit a verbal reaction, consumed by perplexity from the magnitude of questions that could arise yet none manage to.
Perhaps easy due to the fact both were in the same direction of sight, but Meditat's focus lowers to the being who brought him to this region of space to whom he asks with a discernible hint of unease: "Where are we? Where did you bring me? How far from the Superverse system did you pull me to?"
Staring right back with both feet planted side by side even if not grounded by a physical surface, the Fallen raises its head to survey the cosmic landscape for itself as it ominously explains, "The Superverse system? Right, you must believe we're still in the same universe. I would bring you to an adjacent universe had He left any, but this dimension's physics are close enough to your familiarity, and it has a few similar regions. Ironically many dimensions bear some variant to the same solar system that was extracted to build your own, though that is merely a byproduct of infinity." It then returns its gaze to Meditat before raising one arm, triggering Meditat to raise both fists that light up in blue flames, though oddly enough it simply points a finger downward, as if requesting his attention elsewhere.
Clearly distraught, unsure of how to trust this entity who's objectives seemed completely contradictory to every action taken, Meditat's curiosity again takes control of his head which lowers, finding that below his feet further down is the familiar globe with a blue body populated by continents green and brown, all sitting underneath swirls of white, an Earth yet one that doesn't revolve the same cyan sun as all the others he had been accustomed to over the course of his life. The celestial body very clearly resembles Earth, and for all intents and purposes it likely was, and yet there was a difficulty in acknowledging that fact when it was in a cosmic environment unfamiliar to him.
That astonishment subsides to anger back to the topic that remained most paramount even above the questioning of mentioned adjacent universes and dimensions, the latter was a term he hadn't even heard of in this use, but regardless Meditat lifts his head, his lenses glaring in rage as he demands aggressively: "What did you do to my team?! How do I return to them??"
An echoed sigh exudes from the Fallen before it lowers its head, commenting with a hint of disappointment: "Your first sighting of a dimension beyond your own, and your first thought is that. You're both still similar, fixated on the minor details, limiting your capacity simply through your lack of perception. It's unfortunate that your Father chose to restrain the knowledge he could've bestowed to you, you don't know the source of your abilities, you don't know what you are, the structure of the Reality you exist in or the ones that came before, the Eternal War, none of it. His insistence on control through limitation is appalling, at this extent what good was there in passing his power down to his Sons?"
Tsking from the sudden personal insults that relate information concerning for this shadowy alien to possess, Meditat's fear for his own security is subsided by his agitation for his ally's seclusion, fueling his voice growing in persistent rage upon detesting: "I don't know who you are or half of what you speak of, and I admit right now I hardly care about it. You're going to tell me how I can return to my team."
Raising its head higher than straight, enough that it appears it's staring down on him judgmentally, the Fallen states coldly: "You've shown inadequate purpose to demonstrate respect, I don't understand what gives you the right to make demands. I'll return you to them only once I've found value in you."
Growling from fury nearly boiling through the mask, Meditat opens both fists which causes a burst of flames off his palms, his primed blaze growing as he accepts the challenge seemingly for simple battle with the irate declaration: "Then I'll finish this quickly," before releasing those flames forward, which dance in a stream that begins to morph into the shape of what would've likely been a cannon before it's split down the center by a black flash that grazes his golden shoulder, but before he can recover, a second black flash occurs before his entire body is abruptly launched backwards at a meteorite's speed.
During his soar through space, for just an instant perceived in the single shutter of an eye, his arm is grabbed by the stone beast which causes all of his perception to flicker for another shutter before he's let go, allowed to continue flying backwards before he can recover himself with a braking burst, suspending himself to straighten his posture, a distant orange globe behind, and fix his gaze on the enemy who stands about twenty feet in front of him. A single black flicker prompts Meditat to strafe to the side, throwing his arm forward which unleashes a flame that transforms into a missile about the size of his arm that propels itself towards the Fallen, prematurely exploding a second before impact which releases an electric smoke intended to stun, though the stone body seamlessly moves with a head tilt before three separate barrages of rapid blue energy bolts fire onto the body, absorbed without even visible knockback, the enemy showing little interest before summoning three flickers right as the three spherical drones that were firing the barrages abruptly combust.
Tsking from the lack of effective firepower as he frantically dashes in chaotic angles to keep away from being targeted, Meditat contemplates in a mutter as if seeking advice: "Traditional non-physical methods aren't working, it has to be that armor but without identification I can't know it's breaking point. I need to get through it though, I'll increment and target non-vital portions," before flames bursting from his hands equip him with a long rifle like a sniper, though the barrel is longer than his own body, the scope presenting a screen that has a vertical bar that begins to fill slowly from the bottom with red as the aperture flashes before firing a concentrated blue beam.
That beam strikes the Fallen's shoulder, remaining fixed as Meditat dashes wildly to avoid the black flickers attempting to reach him. The beam doesn't show any immediate effect, though it noticeably gradually thickens.
At about ten percent of the bar being filled, Meditat focuses the beam of the rifle while his body boosts in all directions, though remaining oriented like a pivot around the opponent so a steady aim can be maintained. At twenty percent of the bar being filled, Meditat observes apprehensively: "This is enough to pierce skin, not enough," as indeed the thickening ray still fails to make a dent on the armor.
In silent observation, the Fallen just watches Meditat zip around him, carefully strengthening the beam's power until the energy concentration shows some erraticism, sparks diverging as the weapon struggles to control its own output.
Glaring with one eye on the scope and another on the target, Meditat sustains the consistent ray, that scope screen now demonstrating power output rising past fifty percent.
Without any visible results, Meditat's finger applies greater pressure to the capacitive trigger on the handle, causing the beam shot out to grow wider and brighter.
From the shooter's point of view, the screen exhibits an output rising past three quarters, and yet past that screen along the travel of the beam down the rifle there is still no visible damage made to the stone shoulder, the Fallen remaining still, only retaliating with sparse flickers.
Upon the bar nearly filling, well above ninety percent and climbing, Meditat groans from the lack of results as he mutters, "This should melt steel but…nothing…," before dashing away from another flicker, only for a flash to leave a slice straight through the rifle through the barrel, leaving a gap in his breast. He propels himself upwards as he simultaneously erases the rifle's remnants in flames while fire crawls into the wound to patch it, and after its completion he raises both hands above his head, firing a larger flame that elongates in the formation of what resembles a long satellite given the three panels in the back, though they also can be representing the fins of a rocket, the head of which is hollow before flashing a blue light that precedes another concentrated energy beam, this one initially slightly wider than the maximum size of the rifle's output.
The satellite laser propels itself in strafes alongside Meditat as it steadily raises the power, the beam soon as wide as the entire beast's shoulder blade, excess arcs bouncing off the stream yet there's still no result.
Focusing on the beam's output whilst below the source, Meditat observes quietly as if relaying information back to Orial: "We're passing capacity to melt diamonds, it'll likely burn through the shoulder too but it's minimal injury."
Wider, brighter, harsher, the laser beam intensifies with every second, the width now capable of ripping off a chunk of not only the shoulder but part of the breast with it. Now the beam doesn't have the same consistent tone as before, but instead there are spots along the ray darker than others, chaotic like the face of the sun, for that is practically what is being fired. The ray starts to lose its edge, jittering more in the shape of a wave like arcs rather than a keen line as before. And just as the ray reaches its maximum output, it splinters before the whole satellite separates into three parts followed by the destroyed internals' combustion, knocking Meditat away from it, his arms dangling in front of him, one of which is grazed by the stone hand before it lets go, allowing his body to continue soaring though now that small orange globe has grown dramatically larger to cover the entire space behind him before consuming him in its cloud atmosphere until revealing the rocky surface that he collides into within seconds.
Rocketing up from the pit, Meditat narrowly avoids a flash that carves a sizable crater over the hole, causing the rocks on the orange surface to be lifted up from the invisible impact. Now above the surface, Meditat surveys his surroundings with quick spins, abruptly fascinated by the landscape that is clearly not that of an Earth, more akin to a Moon though not precisely either due to the apparent climate as there is indeed a sky even if not bright blue. There are hills though, which he found out first not by seeing them but feeling them as his body suddenly thrusts back into one, crashing straight through its peak, leaving rocky debris which falls on the surface faster than it would've on the lunar landscape.
His attention at first scattered from the alien sight, he realigns focus ahead of him just in time to project a cable off his hip onto the edge of the peak, letting him swing around it just as a larger chunk of the hill is ripped off, leaving a curvature in the hill as if it was two to begin with. He sighs before extending one arm forward, opening a fire that forms what appears to be a crossbow in general shape, made of silver metal with a covered top but there is the signature bow shape by the tip with wires holding it by the iron sights. The bow begins bending back as the wires tug on it, and after locking aim, Meditat presses the trigger a few times, firing physical arrowheads that propel themselves additionally with light trails, driving sharp metal tips into the stone armor only for them to be vaporized on impact.
Desperate to seek a weakness in the armor by exploration, finding that the first attempt at physical piercing to fail, Meditat doesn't give up but rather ditches the crossbow to instead throw a physically-tipped silver spear with its own propulsion, the head long enough to penetrate through the entire shoulder, using the same target in hopes of accumulating pressure. Yet impact just results in the tip melting against the stone, same with the rest of the weapon, leaving the propulsive ray to simply fizzle out. Several ballistic knives fly into the shoulder, only to leave no marks or even visibly agitate the target, who just stares forward before suddenly vanishing.
Recognizing the preemptive strike, Meditat raises both arms over his chest in a cross, though the top of his head ends up being grabbed by the huge hand before he's thrown backwards into an environment of similar orange tones though more reddish, however there's no longer a visible surface below. There is still an atmosphere, in fact it's vastly stronger, so strong that it carries with it a raging storm unlike any on an Earth, winds knocking his body back and forth as the suit reddens slightly from the immense heat. Flashes of lightning in the distance wake up Meditat, prompting him to brake himself just in time to strafe off to the side in avoidance of a couple black flashes, retaliating back by chucking a small ball at the Fallen who now appears in front of him. While the ball itself misses right above the shoulder, just before flying past it suddenly explodes not in a ball of plasmic energy but instead in a fiery gas explosion, a blast more lethal though it still doesn't stagger the opponent.
Struggling to stabilize in the heavy currents which the Fallen does effortlessly, Meditat remains fixed on explosive weaponry by equipping himself with a large rocket launcher that sits over his shoulder, as large as himself in both height and width, the barrel wider than his head. That barrel flashes blue before releasing a physical rocket head that dances in the air in avoidance of more black flashes before landing on target, straight for the shoulder, exploding on impact with great orange flames that would've definitely blown up an unarmored person, yet on this target it doesn't cause a flinch.
Instead, that rocket launcher is cut straight through the barrel, forcing Meditat to frantically ditch it with an evasive dash just before it explodes, managing to at least protect himself from the blast with a quickly formed circular shield on his left hand that prompts an additional energy layer to protect from the shockwave and chunks. He opens his right hand and extends it forward, opening three streams of fire that each form projectiles resembling hellfire missiles which each soar with their own propulsion, all of them landing at once on the Fallen's stone body, no longer simply aiming for the shoulder where injury would be mitigated but instead over the torso too, as Meditat slowly undoes his own self-imposed restrictions to avoid injury of his opponent, resulting in all three exploding with huge fires that consume the stone body in the same hellish shades as the storm around them. Even then, from the center of that fire burst there is a subtle black flash.
Happening already, Meditat tries to resist by covering himself in flames to form a cocoon made of a white silk material, though the hand grabs straight through it with ease, clenching onto the forearm before the red storm vanishes in a black stutter, replaced by an environment no longer containing a unique climate, but instead returning to the cosmic canvas with streaks of galaxies among stars. However the space is far from peaceful, for nearly immediately Meditat collides into one of the many rocks infesting the region, requiring quick dashes to evade them in search for gaps, difficult due to the density of the vast rings of space debris which orbit the gargantuan globe colored in beige bands, intensely larger than Earth or that earlier orange planet. This meticulous movement is rendered mute though when entire paths are cut through it from black flashes trying to reach him, however the quantity of rocks does allow for greater movement as Meditat is now able to zip around with cables, letting himself better avoid the empty paths trying to cut him through.
After the first few seconds of chaotic dodging, he locks sight onto the Fallen who simply stands in the ring, the rocks colliding with him simply evaporating on touch. The stone monster just needs to turn its head to press fire, every flicker cutting huge lines of rocks, decimating them without so much as dust left behind. Quickly there wouldn't be any cover behind the rocks to use, so a plan had to be devised quickly. All energy-based attacks had failed, whether it be lasers that could melt any material, or gas explosions, reminding him of the former presumption that the opponent may have defenses specifically against energy. In fact, the only few attacks that did show any effect were physical, and while spears showed little promise, the attacks that had an effect were not sharp but rather blunt albeit for the bat's failure.
After exhausting most other ideas for damage categories, a choice is made to try focusing deeper in the potential root cause of those punch's effectiveness, which is done first as Meditat throws his arm forwards as a fire trailing with the throw forms a long metal rod like a tungsten pole, the size of a staff which like most other projectiles carries itself with an accelerating propulsor, the width the same as the stone fist. That rod just melts on impact, and instead of a stagger, the opponent vanishes again this time noticeably quicker, throwing Meditat off who is knocked back against the chest, flinging him through a black stutter that drops him straight into deep waters like an ocean, leaving him aimlessly floating for just a second before he dashes away as a line of water hollows out intersecting through where he just was. He turns to face the opponent who just stands inside the water upright, watching multiple flames light up which form underwater torpedoes that race for him and strike on impact with their own explosions that fail to sway the Fallen. In a blip the Fallen reappears beside Meditat, grabbing him and throwing him into a thick blue atmosphere, sending his body crashing onto an icy surface that isn't particularly hard but instead slushy, unstable to stand on thus forcing him to leap in the air. He faces down, his cape breezing in the blue climate not of the same shade as the Earth's sky but a darker tone, facing the Fallen who stands over the slushy surface, watching the man raise both arms up which each release great umbrellas of flames before he throws his arms down, subdividing the umbrella into a barrage of countless rockets, however they're all huge with a width more than the Fallen's own body, shaped like a huge bullet which rains down and smashes into the opponent, not igniting explosions but instead physically crushing the target as the weight of the rockets alone is its main strength. From the quantity of the barrage, many rocket pods fly into the slushy floor, breaking through the soft surface, clearly not weak as they drive in with the force to squash dense metal.
Apparently the force is inadequate as the stone body remains intact even after the end of the burst, leading to the Fallen reappearing in a black flash, however this time Meditat boosts backwards fast enough to evade the grab, retaliating with both hands raised up, producing a long horizontal flame that is thrown forward as it forms into a projectile resembling a silver bullet train both in shape and size, far wider than the target and longer than a city block, flying straight into the stone body where its nose immediately burns on impact as well as the rest of the body revealed to be made of solid metal as it's not hollow like a real train, carrying maximum weight for greater force. The center of the train at least melts, but the edges that don't touch the body continue past, dropping into the slushy ground.
Still the Fallen simply stands in place, letting the train burn itself just by touch, and while the retaliation was meritable, it does significantly impede on visibility of the target which is exploited in a reappearance right behind Meditat, grabbing his shoulder from the back before shoving him forwards into a stony dune of a solid surface beneath the cosmic sky, lacking its own unique atmosphere, the most like the Moon in fact as it's nearly indistinguishable other than the vastly greater distance from the yellow sun given its merely a dot now. Due to that distance, the surface is revealed not to be simply stone, but impact exposes it to be solid ice as it cracks from Meditat's body bouncing off it, though he manages to bounce back onto his feet which slide backwards as he faces the Fallen maintaining that calm standing pose with its arms at its side, also on the ice. It watches Meditat extend both arms forward to release a single large flame that manifests a truck pod the size of a fire truck though with the nose mounting a huge rotating metal drill that spins fast enough that all that can be seen is a blur. The drill drives straight into the Fallen, burning on impact, leaving the opponent unharmed to raise its head before being struck by a volley of physical cannonballs, still undeterred as they just burn up on touch, leaving the opponent unharmed to vanish.
Again that pattern initiates, prompting Meditat to begin dashing frantically both backwards and to the sides, trying to stay out of range even when the pursuer has yet to reveal himself, leaving just the man dashing alone on the former planet's surface. Despite the erratic movements, the Fallen still manages to grab Meditat by the forearm, raising it up in preparation for another forced relocation, and on desperate instinct Meditat throws a high kick into the side of the Fallen's stone torso, causing it to grunt and instinctively relinquish grip of the forearm, stumbling back just slightly.
Stunned by the unexpectedly successful hit, Meditat emits an astonished, "Huh," having finally landed a blow after all the trials all of which resulted in failure. It was ironic too, after all the weapons created, it was yet again just a hit using his own body that caused an effect, as if it was his body specifically that was exclusively capable of impacting the opponent. That however made little sense, and as Meditat observes his own knee completely decimated before his very eyes, he acknowledges that attempting to strike exclusively at short range would be a dangerous plan at least if that was the only reliable method. Even then, he had a feeling that he was missing one single piece, one that was needed to finally make significant progress in this battle, and this was his moment to capitalize.
In a plan formulated within a quarter second, he manifests a physical mace that he grips with both hands, made with a silver metal head, which he swings straight into the Fallen's left thigh as he regrows his knee, however this strike doesn't even nudge the opponent, only resulting in the destruction of the mace as if Meditat failed to deliver a following strike. He then leaps in the air and swings his arms from the right as his hands grip a manifesting sledgehammer, however the sledgehammer's head is made purely of hardened frosty crystals, manifested just the moment before impact into the side of the armored face that sways to the left as the whole body stumbles a few steps off balance, that strike succeeding even though a chunk of the sledgehammer's head vaporizes.
In that moment as Meditat completes the followthrough of the swing, his black cape waving like a flag beside him, his azure glare blazing, that final piece clicks into place, and the answer he had been searching for finally comes to him.
Reestablishing footing, the Fallen straightens its posture after having it bent for the first time, but as it turns its head to face Meditat, he throws his arm forward, his palm breathing flames that manifests five boomerangs made of hardened frosty crystals, all of which strike the stone chest, causing another backward stumble, providing Meditat the setup to make a sprint forward as he equips a bat in hand, the handle rubberized for tighter grip though the barrel is made purely of crystals which flare up upon swinging it for the forehead, this one tactic at last showing promise and now being relied on as the primary root for future attacks. That swing makes contact, destroying the top half of the bat but causing yet another few steps backwards for the Fallen, the slushy ground beneath its feet dampening from the weight.
One more step back, the stone beast's body finally showing just a minor glimpse of exhaustion as it needs to straighten up once again, the Fallen raises its eyeless gaze at Meditat before ominously applauding, "You're finally prioritizing your Exforce concentration, that deserves praise. However you are limiting yourself to one form, unless you're capable of imbuing other materials with concentration your potential still hangs low."
Despite that insult tacked on to the end, the Spirit's posture for the first time in this battle shows a hint of confidence, standing straight with his chest puffed forward, his arms tense but at the side, his chin up, eyes glaring as the majestic black cape waves behind him. Through that glaring mask he retorts brazenly, "I admit my prolonged reliance on the material isn't perfect, but if that material's what I need to force you to yield, I have an abundance of various applications that'll serve adequately."
Straightening its head, its posture fully straight with its arms back to its side in its former composed stance, the Fallen just stares back with its head tilted slightly down just enough to fix its sights on the man's face. It then slowly raises both of its arms, its right hand closed in a fist but it's left open, and as the beast declares in a tone of slight intrigue: "Then I may treat you as an opponent," both hands are brought over the chest, clashing against each other which results in minor black sparks.
At once, the Spirit takes one step forward, arching his arm back which is engulfed in blue fire, channeling it forward as he directs his fist to the stone opponent, releasing that fire that shapes into a circular crystal frisbee that the Fallen suddenly dodges with a left strafe, moving its body with mobility carried in a dash straight to the Spirit, grabbing his elbow and throwing him forward as the blue planet flashes black, replaced with an environment surrounded in thick pink gas like a nebula with streaks of orange, moving slowly around space like clouds, large enough that it fully encapsulates the two fighters along with a radius seemingly endless. Thrown forward again, the Spirit instinctively dashes to the left in avoidance of a black flash, retaliating with throwing motions from both hands, each of them producing a disk like a chakram made with crystal edges, three tossed total the first two of which land on the stone chest, causing a minor knockback though the last one doesn't leave a visible impact before evaporating like the rest.
That brief stagger is enough for the Spirit to thrust forward as he equips himself with a crystallic bo staff, slamming the Fallen in a quick dash, causing another backward stumble as Meditat brakes a few feet past the target, spinning and boosting for another dash as he replaces the staff with a warhammer that he swings into the back, pushing the Fallen forward about a foot before being knocked to the side from being bashed in the face by a flail ball, the attacker now behind but at a different angle.
Back and forth in random angles, the Spirit executes quick strafing strikes on the stationary target, swapping to different blunt crystal weapons, swinging a mace, slamming a club, swaying a baton, throwing a nunchuck with an energy cable, resulting in every attack having a different pattern due to none of them being of the same weapon, throwing off the Fallen who's quickly trapped in this flurry.
Bouncing in for another swing with a bludgeon in hand, the Spirit throws another attack aimed for the nape, though oddly enough the entire head of the bludgeon is consumed in a black flicker just before it can make contact, nearly enough to make impact but there's just enough distance for him to notice given the subtle turn of the head. Similarly, the Fallen spins around before throwing its arm forward in a punch straight into the Spirit's left lumbar, blowing a clean hole straight through his kidney like he was shot by a cannon. Before he can recover, another jab is made with surprisingly ferocious speed for his right breast, razing another gap that erases an edge of the pencil insignia, completed with one more punch straight for the center of the abdomen which not only blasts a third hole through but also thrusts his body backwards, or rather down in a plummet towards the grainy orange ground before he dashes in a partial vertical spin enough to reorient his body such that his boots graze the sand of the dune he'd have otherwise fell through whilst he patches the three wounds with fire bursts. Above him the sky has a bleak faint orange tone, whether that be the natural sky hues or a product of the grains being swept in the gentle breezes. More sand is swept into the air though as pockets appear in the ground upon black flickers, each pocket only about a foot deep with a minor radius though a rapid quantity appears in succession, the pockets appearing closer and closer to the Spirit who dashes backwards quicker while raising his head up to find the Fallen hovering in the air above him, black dots twinkling all around its body, each one signifying another invisible shot like a machine gun.
One stronger upward bound and the Spirit launches himself higher than the enemy, locking on and flicking his hand forward which produces three long rods built with their own propulsors to launch them forward, similar to the silver ones earlier though these rods are crystallic, the first two flaring up before landing on the Fallen's forehead, each one the size of its head in fact, which causes a minor knockback to the neck though the last one doesn't seem to make significant impact before evaporating like the rest. Just a second later, and it straightens its neck, recovered from the slight brush before a black sparkle emerges in front of it.
In quiet observation the Spirit notes, "That should've had enough blunt head force trauma to induce a concussion," before he dashes down to avoid the flicker, though he's nearly caught from the reappearance of the opponent throwing a jab for the neck, quickly protected with a crystal rounded shield that does successfully catch the fist though it shatters the whole shield on impact including the hand holding it, simultaneously launching him back up in the air, sending him towards a huge cloud not too far in the distance: a local sandstorm.
Flung straight into the storm, nearly all environment clarity is reduced to nothing as the Spirit finds himself trapped in the orange swarm, his body caught in the current and being levitated though he opposes it with his own boosts in an upward strafe just as a clearing is made through part of the storm, evaporating a path before the sand naturally fills in the gap.
Frantically the Spirit turns around as he deploys four spherical drones that remain over his shoulder, one of which fires a blue laser pointer that guides the Spirit's sight in one direction which he aims his hand out to fire a barrage of darts, utilizing their own flight system but with crystal tips, however the laser pointer of that drone deactivates as the adjacent one turns on to fire in the direction behind the Spirit who spins to face that new angle, firing another volley of those same darts only for the laser pointer to turn off, signifying that it has yet again lost its target, leading him to spin on his own in hopes of catching the monster himself.
Ironically that target appears right in front of him, reaching for his head to which he dashes backwards before manifesting a dagger in his right hand, carrying a sharp crystal blade which is plunged directly into the hand, though it doesn't easily penetrate as the crystal is evaporated on contact, making it impossible to make any significantly deep cuts. The strike does at least cause an adverse reaction as the Fallen promptly jerks its hand back with a grunt before the Spirit aims a smaller crossbow and holds down the trigger, firing a quick burst of five small crystal-tipped arrows into the stone shoulder which do hit, causing a slight flinch yet not close to the extent of damage weapons like that would do to an unarmored individual. Only about a foot in front of the enemy, the Spirit makes a flick with his wrist to summon three crystal kunai which all aim for the abdomen, though they crumble just an inch before contact after minor black twinkles, as though the seemingly natural shielding responsible for annihilating anything touching the stone randomly enlarged for just an instant. Before being able to adapt to the loss of his flow, the Spirit is smacked in the face by the Fallen's backhand, completely blowing away the sandstorm in one fell swoop, but simultaneously vaporizing the full white mask whilst blowing the hood off the head which exposes the face just as a subtle translucent blue glow flickers over his skin, similar to the sheet effect of the disk shields he had given to his allies earlier as indication of a backup armor. However, the Spirit's naked starry eyes widen in horror, dashing backwards and instinctively veiling his face with his hand as though suddenly prioritizing his own concealment, his wavy black hair now dancing like his cape.
Pausing the battle upon the strange act seemingly of timidness, the Fallen lowers its head before commenting, "You too wear a human's body…interesting." It raises its hand up by its chin in contemplation while discerning curiously, "Though that's strange, your skin bears genetic resemblance to your brother's…an intentful one." Lowering its hand to its side, it concludes with subtle fascination in its ominous voice: "That's right, this was the tone your Father gave you. So you've both chosen to maintain your image and even allowed it to age…a strange self-imposed weakness. That explains your erratic behavior towards Ookami, you're not protecting your Core well at all."
Emotions shifting from panic of having his face exposed, his identity as the former X-Prints C.E.O potentially revealed to an adversary, to recognizing that the specific identity isn't even remotely garnering interest, but instead the strangely normal fact that it is an identity to begin with, that it is a face. He lowers his hands, no longer covering his face, realizing that this enemy shows no interest in what was behind the mask, or rather it seemed to already know given that it has been referring to his family which was highly secretive information only known by his closest allies and his devilish brother.
Gazing back at the enemy through those naked azure starry eyes that sharpen in a glare, his wavy hair beginning to flap more intensely as a dust of wind grazes him, the Spirit declares without hesitancy: "You seem mistaken, I AM human."
An audible sigh exudes from the Fallen after that declaration to which it simply states in a disappointed tone: "The knowledge you were stripped of bled you of your identity, to know you brothers have the capacity to wield the greatest power in all of Reality yet you mistaken your own definition. You truly do believe you are simply 'one of them.'"
Those last words spark a rage that burns in the Spirit's eyes, a reminder of the perilous state his allies are in, endangered by the one who stands before him with seemingly no empathy or even interest for them. He had already met those who undermined a human's value, the conflict between Exhuman and human extremists who undervalued one another but also his brother who simply saw neither lives as sacred. However even he acknowledged that some had value, at least to an emotional extent towards Meditat, if he chose to target them he did it knowing their importance to him whereas this new opponent seems to instead see no significance in their fate regardless if for the worst.
This monster didn't love or hate, it was indifferent, a fact that burns Meditat as he dashed straight for it with his fist thrown forward for a bright punch, roaring before the monster raises its arm and grabs that fist which does jolt the stone body, though enough control is managed to transition both of them between black canvas and into another environment where the Fallen raises its arm, pulling the Spirit's entire body up before throwing him forward.
He's flung forward in open space, his body hurtling towards a large rocky surface like an asteroid, though before he reaches it he arches his arm back, manifesting a long flame in his grip which he throws forward in the formation of a spear that rockets forward on a silver pole, the blade itself crystallic, flaring as it follows the man's trail who observes it keenly, watching it guide for a shot in the shoulder aimed specifically between the stone plates, targeting the hollow pit. A few feet from impact and a black twinkle flashes in front of the Fallen, followed immediately with the entire spear's blade shattering into fine grains, leaving the pole to simply burn itself on contact.
Watching that unsuccessful strike, an observation clicks after noting that preceding blink, and after aligning it with scattered memories of the past few minutes he notes with a relieved smirk, "So he isn't just simply adapting to the crystals, he's manually stopping it, no wonder those punches lost effectiveness earlier. Even if he's still more resilient than a normal opponent, he's not invincible."
The Spirit lands on the surface which he begins sliding down, the actual width of the surface not that immense as it's only about ten feet wide whereas the rock is the length of over a hundred, shaped like a pillar which passively rotates, exerting a strange gravitational pull that drags him towards the center along the surface. Many other asteroids of this similarly stretched scale can be seen in the distance, as though the shape isn't an uncommon occurrence. After comprehending his situation, the phenomenon unnatural though not his greatest priority, the Spirit returns his gaze back to the enemy as he raises both hands forward which begin releasing flames, preparing his next plan that he decides: "Those counters aren't consistent meaning he's exerting his own conscious attention on it, then stressing through quantity might breach his defense," as those flames harden in the creation of a light machine gun with a long barrel about half his height, fitted with a physical bolt that begins jittering once he pulls the trigger, firing shots with blue traces.
These shots aren't blue energy bolts designed for non-physical neutralization though, instead they're physical rounds, expertly cut in the shape of bullets with sharp tips, the body entirely crystallic. The rounds have the size and speed to deliver fatal hits, launched at a rapid pace given that the light machine gun sounds like a lawnmower, the barrel lighting up constantly like fireworks.
The first fifty or so bullets, which were fired in about a second or so, are wiped in a black flash, again sanding it into harmless dust. However the gun was fired not at a burst but continuous rate, many more passing through those flashes, reaching the stone armor where they wildly scatter over the body, not fired at a precise point but instead over the general target. Sparks blink off the Fallen's body who's knocked backwards as it raises its arm forward, as if grabbing the stream of bullets, letting many of them strike the open palm before vanishing.
Sliding down the long rock, Meditat launches into a flip right before the Fallen appears behind him, inserting its hand into the rock surface which not only digs through like it's mush, but results in a sudden explosion from within the asteroid itself, causing it to burst into many separate chunks, luckily none of them colliding against Meditat who drifts atop one, the chunks remaining pretty close together in the same general pole shape. He throws his hand forward which lets go of a small fireball that manifests into a ball made oddly not of crystal but silver metal instead, a strange backtrack. The Fallen just watches it in that same confuddlement, letting it nearly graze its body though not at a dangerous velocity due to it being tossed, however before it does touch the body it automatically explodes, yet this explosion causes the opponent to drift backwards as though somehow impacted.
Ditching the machine gun, the Spirit replaces his firearm with one better resembling a grenade launcher given the fatter barrel and drum, firing rounds at a far slower pace with them also not being externally crystallic.
However as they all approach the Fallen and detonate themselves, every single one of them causes irritation, the explosions composed of gas though it's been proven to be ineffective before. Being stricken with every grenade, the Fallen just focuses on the rounds, trying to understand the effect.
It's at a level of detail vastly keener than what normal sight would allow, microscopic focus at intense concentration that seconds feel like they stretch, each grenade's explosion results in not only that whole silver spherical casing layer being eviscerated, but for a hidden layer of crystal shrapnel to be ejected, tiny pieces that grab onto the body, causing the irritation.
Zooming out after detecting the surprisingly intricate mechanisms, proving that even when restrained to one material there were still many exploits in how it could be used, the Fallen takes action with the raise of its hand from which a spark emerges from, and the next instant the entire line of grenades in motion are prematurely detonated, including the one inside the launcher, blowing up on the Spirit which throws him off, the launcher's entire barrel torn apart.
While it'd be best to replace the weapon with another offensive tool, the Spirit is forced to make the next construct defensive, forming a thick metal wall in front of him akin to the blast doors from Icarus, made just in time before the wall splits in half across the horizontal.
Though as the two halves float in different directions, what's revealed behind is that the Spirit's body does the same, his upper body above the hips slowly ascending as his legs depress, pouring blood out of the clean cut which quickly freeze up in the vacuum before the lower half bursts into flames, evaporating simultaneous as another set of flaming legs extends from the wound, reconstructed just in time for Meditat to dash to the side in avoidance of another flash though brakes his dash just a few inches before ramming into the Fallen who has reappeared in front of him, standing in space with its feet at the same level as his, though its grand stature results in it towering over him with a torso so broad that he can't even see past, his eyes shriveling from the shock. Even though in this moment he can just dash backwards, he feels frozen in place, his gaze locked onto the stone abdomen where those bright caustics dance along the abrupt void beneath the plates, being reminded of his enemy's monstrous figure. He just stares for a moment, determining the options he has, but in knowing that his opponent would be making the same judgment, he makes the quickest choice perhaps off instinct by throwing his right fist forward, the knuckles in his fist flaring just as before.
This time before a punch can be made, the Fallen swiftly blocks the punch with a backhand slap to the palm thus erasing it as the space around them blinks before bringing them in space where there can be seen a distant orange planet though it's undergoing a strange fragmentation where the whole globe splits from the center into two identically orange globes which continue to steadily drift apart, however the Spirit doesn't even notice as he throws his left arm forward, though this time his whole forearm bursts with flames before constructing a gauntlet made of crystals, meticulous plating that still maintains the general shape of his arm and hand, the fingers and palm being segmented into several smaller plates that are fairly flexible enough to close his hand into a fist to punch the abdomen, incinerating the glove of the gauntlet however the smaller hand underneath it remains intact. Before any celebration can be made, he recreates his right arm and raises it with a flame that forms a circular shield to block a hook, losing the shield in the process but at least protecting his body, though the sky blinks again to bring them back out to space right in front of a massive vortex resembling a black hole in that there is a solid event horizon with a visible photon ring along it but a far greater accretion disk surrounding the whole structure, however the primary difference is that rather than the event horizon being black– a fundamental component that provides it its signature name– it is instead entirely white. This strange structure at least doesn't has a physical effect such as pulling on the Spirit who is instead focused on countering that punch to the shield by dropping said shield and manifesting another glove over his hand which features crystal claws used to try slashing at the body only for that swing to be caught by the Fallen's wrist who retaliates with a jab for the Spirit's right shoulder, that jab making contact and blowing off an entire chunk of the shoulder as the environment changes again to one within a sky blue atmosphere seemingly high in the air of an Earth-like planet given that there are distant white clouds albeit the clouds are on their wider side spread vertically beside them as though they're not standing upright to the surface. What may be harder to explain though is that among the sky are many black dots, a glitter of them even, though one dot is far larger in the shape of a globe though it's almost large enough to the size of a planet if the two were in space, at the distant of where the moon would be. The globe has swirls of purple and blue clouds over it like nebulas above gray continents seemingly made of stone like asteroids which sit on those black oceans dark as the cosmic canvas. Above this strange planet if it can be identified as such are the two combatants, the Spirit rebuilding his shoulder and throwing his left arm with a reformed gauntlet this time noticeably larger than the first, almost double the size of his own arm however it's caught by the Fallen's backhand, though that backhand is knocked back from the hit, destroying the front face of the gauntlet but letting the Spirit get a punch to the chest with his own glove's knuckles even if it means losing the hand again.
He takes another injury while countering another strike from the Fallen before retaliating with his own before countering another before retaliating before countering, a process accelerating with both of their movements, each of the Fallen's attempted hits resulting in the scene skipping to another from a sky with an odd reflective nature as if made of mirrors sliding similar to the octahedron, then in space above a large tilted disk with a familiar albeit warped view of the white cloudy swirls over green and brown continents on the blue ocean, close to the sight of Earth but strangely flat, the rim of which features the white lands of presumably the arctic. After another exchange of blows they appear standing over a long wooden bridge which actually combusts from the excess forces exerted between the two, then a forest however the trees hang from above, resulting in the branches arching upwards with further trees higher up.
Finally after getting an uppercut to the stomach which vaporizes not only that but his chest, the Spirit dashes backwards, vital organs exposed as the bags of his lungs have been cut open same as his heart, pouring out blood towards the floor that does have notable gravitational pull before the wound is sealed, as the environment does appear to be on a planet given that there's some sort of hard dark blue ice beneath them.
They aren't on a flat landscape, but instead on some sort of mountain given the variance in height for peaks above and below, the ground not discernible due to its width. While there is white snow falling from the sky, none of it sticks to the ground, the entire mountain's surface made of this dark blue ice as detectable by its texture and gentle reflections, a strange composition for a mountain yet it clearly holds together. The shape is also more or less conal with peaks and depressions, though the rise has inconsistent inclines with the one the two stand on being particularly flatter. Along the mountain there are several rivers that flow similar to how lava would on a volcano, though the liquid's blue tones give the impression of it simply being water.
Surveying this ice mountain before raising its head off to the sky aimlessly, the Fallen observes in a murmur: "Interesting, it seems your allies are making a brash offensive effort against my Pawns, have they made a discovery?"
Turning forward with a glare to what felt like mockery, Meditat groans through gritted teeth and makes a minor leap forward as his entire body emits a flame like a fireball, encasing him in a mechanical armor with similar proportions both in height and broadness to the opponent, most of the body opaque with a white skin-like material overlaid with plates of crystal armor that is most prominent on the arms and fists, though oddly enough the plates aren't planted on the base material but rather it levitates just a few centimeters off, only discernible as there's a minor slit between the plate and armor in a manner similar to his cape now hidden inside the suit. It lacks a neck though, the head instead integrating into the shoulders, allowing for a translucent blue-tinted window to let the Spirit peer through, his body attached to some exoskeleton inside allowing for piloting since his arms and legs fit partially through the armor's, as it isn't nearly large enough that his whole body can be housed in a single compartment like the torso. Still, he's capable of controlling it just fine, maneuvering it to charge at the Fallen, each step heavy yet confident, mechanically tough but stable enough that it doesn't even crack the ice under. Through the suit he throws a punch at the Fallen who takes a step back while raising its arm up, blocking the punch, naturally decimating that fist, only the crystal plating over the fingers though due to their separation, furthermore there's still another that punches the abdomen, managing to stagger it, allowing for a flurry of a few quick jabs to the same area by replacing the broken crystal plating until the Fallen doesn't physically step back but instead reappear a few feet backwards, making the next few quick punches miss due to lack of reach, and after realizing this the Spirit takes a step back and raises both fists in front of its face in a boxing stance which faces the forearm plating towards the Fallen who now makes a charge forward.
Quick jabs and hooks compliment each other in a rapid flurry, every punch to the crystal armor causing the plate to evaporate, requiring another to be made in replacement, meaning that the Spirit is constantly expelling flames to reinforce his suit just to keep up with the attacks, leaving little time for a counter. Inside the mechanical armor he begins taking steps back to seek separation, though the Fallen pursues relentlessly, not only lunging forward but also reappearing at will to close gaps instantly, throwing the Spirit off, its arms stuck in front of its face as lowering it for even an instant would leave him vulnerable. All he can do is continue taking steps back, trying best not to trip, the large metal feet grasping onto the ice floor which at least isn't too slippery though he does slide slightly after every punch from the force of impact.
Stuck on defense, the Spirit keeps his guard up while backtracking, trying to buy even a second to retaliate though every step back he takes is another the Fallen advances forth. There's a limited distance he can backtrack though as eventually the heel of his armor reaches the edge of one of those aforementioned streams, and with a quick glance back he observes the flow of liquid resembling water though with a strong light blue tone that seems to almost be emitting its own glow, moving slowly without obstruction.