Different

Nate and Tai broke out of their prisons just before they hit the ground. They looked up at Arcah hovering above them grinning.

"You're gonna regret attacking my country!" Nate yelled, with his anger rising.

There were tremors below them, shaking the ground violently. Followed by a massive stone golem rising out of the ground, grabbing for Arcah.

However, a golem bigger and made out of tougher metals rose and blocked its reach, then destroyed its head with one swift strike. "Please, don't even try. I can level this country on my own if I wish. What could you possibly even do to stop me?" Arcah taunted, chuckling to himself and shaking his head.

Tai took the moment, to fire consecutive fireballs at him, each blocked with little effort, as stone barriers rose together to protect the prince. "Don't let him taunt you," Tai advised, then flanked, hoping his words would reach his comrade. He unsheathed his sword, then leaped up, swinging at Arcah, with his entire might and willed flames to reinforce his blade.

Arcah dodged to his left, letting him go by, then punched him, in the gut and sent him hurdling back. He then leaped at Nate, preying on him.

Nate raised rocks and stones to cover himself in a protective armour, as he braced for impact. Arcah feinted a strike, then proceeded to beat down on Nate, catching him off-guard and crumbling the armour apart, as Nate struggled to keep it together.

The prince had a sinister smile, etched across his face. "Fortune is smiling upon me. I got to absorb my brother, now a young human, and then billions of other untarnished ants I can indulge on. Soon joining the Hespers, will be in sight!" He exclaimed while shaking the Nova, with impacts reverberating to his core.

Nate started to cough up blood, as he struggled to look for a way out, while Arcah kept circling and punching him away. Tai flew back quickly, appearing right behind the prince, aiming to catch him by surprise.

However, Arcah spun around, while pulling together a titanium-layered gauntlet, forming over his hand and caught Tai's sword. "This is way too much fun." He grinned as he held on tight to the sword, then swung Tai around into Nate, sending them both crashing back through the plains.

They quickly tried to recover themselves and get up, but a looming shadow overhead caught their attention. A mass of rubble and steel covered the sky and began to drop like a wave. Immediately they scrambled to get to safety, working together like they had practiced in drills.

Nate made platforms for them to hop on, while Tai boosted them, with fire at their tails. Jetting them through the falling rubble.

Tai blasted as many as he could out of the sky, while Nate attempted to gain control of some of the mass, to stop it from targeting them. Suddenly their stone platforms crumbled away, plunging them into free fall, until Tai gathered enough energy to maintain flight, and caught Nate in midair. In the distance, they could hear Arcah's maniacal laugh echoing through the night plains

"We have to find another way to beat him. We need to work together." Tai said as he dodged another boulder, falling out of the sky and nearly made it out of the radius of Arcah's attack.

"I'm sorry Tai, I'm being a burden. It seems he can completely overpower my abilities." Nate looked down. He hadn't felt this depressed in a long time. His family, friends, and his country needed him. Yet even though he had been given the power to protect them, he still felt useless.

Tai gritted his teeth, thinking this wasn't the time for this. "Don't give up on me. The others have their hands full. We have to do this!" As the words left his mouth, he glanced up, noticing slight movement above him.

From under the mass of rubble, a gigantic fist manifested and protruded out of it, swinging for the both of them. Tai braced for impact summoning flame barriers and flying, as fast as he could out of the way.

Nate placed out his hand willing the fist to stop and trying to summon rocks and stones to form a barrier. However, nothing would answer him. It was as if his connection was completely cut off from the planet.

With his efforts, Tai was able to outmaneuver the fist in the nick of time, while Arcah laughed out loud, seeing Nate struggle, as he caught up to them. "Haven't you realized it yet? It's called Absolute Domain! As long as I am exerting my energy in a fixed radius, you won't be able to use your abilities, because..."

He gave them a smirk, then the fist that had just swung past, burst into sand and dust, enveloping them before they could escape. Then buried them in standing coffins up to their neck. "I'm just that much stronger than you." He finished, with one hand up, holding them in place.

All of the rubble in the sky fell down to the ground with a resounding crash. Tai struggled as much as he could, continuously bursting flames out of the coffin. However, the coffin of sand just kept, repairing itself.

Nate couldn't let go of Arcah's gaze. Real despair rushed through him for the first time. What had he gotten himself into? 'He was going to die.' He thought over and over again.

Tai looked over at Nate, concerned. "Get a hold of yourself, Nate! You need to get us out of these... Or else, what are your powers good for?"

Arcah was amused by their display. "Now that you're confined, I can finally confirm that the energy you're emitting, is with the help of those those suits are they not?"

The pair went quiet, as the prince continued, knowing he was onto them. "Oh? Was I spot on? What happens, if I remove your equipment? Would you become even more fragile than you already are?"

Tai started to realize there was no way out of this. He started to panic.

"Well, I can try that out on your friends. Right now I just want to hear how you would scream when you die. Goodbye now." He clutched his fist signaling the sand to crush them.

At the same moment, machine gun fire disturbed the night, as a branch of the Australian military, charged in guns blazing, with multiple stealth choppers showering Arcah with bullets and several snipers making their mark.

A few tanks fired missiles all around Arcah's position on the ground. The military could not stand by and watch one of their citizens, shield them, and die on the front lines.

Dozens of soldiers, lined up firing nonstop at the Prince. The attack caught him by surprise, as he rushed to defend himself. Forcing him to drop the pair he was holding prisoner.

Rocks and steel raced around him, like a hurricane to form a barrier, while he recovered and gained a sense of his surroundings. He felt the energies and vitals of all of his assailants.

Sand began to rise and snake around the soldier's feet. Tornadoes of dust & stones rose and circled the helicopters, blocking the pilots' vision.

With a quick crunching sound, followed by large explosions, the tornadoes crushed the helicopters in and showered the flaming metal remains at the tanks and drones flying overhead, at sonic speed. Leaving the tanks & drones exploding or totalled, with no time to escape.

Some of the soldiers turned to see what happened to the tanks, while others continued firing. The last few noticed the sand too late, as it swallowed them whole and crushed them, bursting blood everywhere.

It was quiet. Except for night critters and occasional quakes and explosions from the battles ongoing near them. Moments later, Arcah's dome crumbled down, as he brushed himself off. "That's better. I like things a little quieter and more entertaining." He said, turning back to the pair, still recovering from their imprisonment.

"You monster!" Tai yelled as he injected himself with a booster.

The prince gave Tai the creepiest smile, then looked over at Nate, looking forward to the terror on his face. However, Nate's expression had completely changed.

His glare sent chills through Arcah's spine. Random geysers popped up all around them, with pillars of lava rising into the sky. The downpour avoided Tai and Nate unnaturally.

Nate's body exhaled steam, enough to make Tai step back. Veins of lava, raced across his body, marking him as they pulsed in intervals. His hair began to rise slightly, as seismic activity picked heavily in their vicinity. "There is no way... There is no way I can forgive him."

Tai had never seen Nate angry, but he realized this was their only chance. "That's right... Let's bring him down!"

Koji and Sofia vs Stresci....

"Look what you've done to my arm!" Stresci screamed as if they couldn't hear her. She wanted to rip Koji to shreds. Her arm took its time reforming what had been cut off.

The pair had recovered from her earlier attack and prepared themselves for her arrival. It was dark, however the Moon and stars kept their glow, with occasional flashes from drones, keeping tabs on the situation.

Sarah had developed night vision lenses specially made for combat and operated by the user's will. Allowing Koji and Sofia to see her clearly, as she angrily gathered a mass amount of energy.

Koji stepped forward, sheathing his sword. "You've made a grave mistake."

Stresci, glanced at him, settling with a curious expression. "Oh? How so?"

Dark clouds began to gather, as electricity crackled all around them. "You've gotten in the way of our mission and I'm in no mood to play around with you."

Stresci started to laugh, as thousands of golems rose out of the ground, all made out of stone and iron, while she raised a sandstorm, hindering their vision. "Then, what are you going to do about it?"

He shifted straight into second gear. Releasing immense wind pressure, as he circled his energy around them, blasting the sand away from him and Sofia, who also had to brace herself. She covered her body in an armour of light flames to protect herself, but she knew Koji wasn't messing around.

Stresci felt the sudden danger and jumped onto a stone platform to create some distance. Then ordered her golems to charge them.

Koji raised one hand above his head then dropped it down facing her. "Static: Catatumbic Lightning."

Thousands of lightning strikes, struck the golems down simultaneously, following up to her in a humongous tree of lightning. It continued to constantly zap her as she screamed, immobilized.

Thunder echoed throughout the night plains, as Koji firmly held his hand in place. Draining thousands of years out of her.

A massive golem rose and grabbed her out of the attack, but the Nova didn't let up, directing the lightning at it and crumbling the golem away. Before it completely broke down and threw a small figure into the distance.

"You're not getting away," Koji murmured, disappearing in a blur.

Sofia sighed. "He never slows down." Then flew off after them.

Koji caught up to Stresci flying away as fast she could, carried by a large piece of rock. He appeared above her with an electric blur, then unsheathed his sword and stabbed down, impaling her. "Static: Uneri." A large electric explosion, erupted through the tip of his sword as they hit the ground.

She screamed once again, coughing up blood. "Don't kill me! I'll give you anything you want."

She looked up at Koji, who stared back down in disgust. Forcing her to look away, as she realized he wasn't going to show any mercy. "Brother! Help me! Someone help me!" She called out, to deaf ears.

Sofia landed near them, just in time to witness the situation, as Koji started to speak. "They won't be able to hear you from here. I'm sure, many of your victims begged for their lives, the same way. Unfortunately, just like them, no one is coming to save you." Koji twisted his sword further, pouring in millions of volts.

Then quickly drew his sword out, and pinpointed her core, which moved to her head. She began to panic and quickly summoned a titanium plate to protect her forehead. Then an iron golem rose from the ground quickly, behind Sofia and grabbed her, as she yelled out. Hating herself for dropping her guard, in battle.

"Let me go, or I'll kill her," Stresci demanded.

Koji was still stabbing down, trying to push through the plate, but he glanced back for a single moment to see Sofia taken hostage. Sofia raged, trying to explode the golem off of her, but the golem held on, repairing and regenerating itself constantly, then squeezed tighter.

"Let her go!" Koji yelled, looking back at her.

"You first," Stresci spoke desperately, as he made it through more than half of the plate and pricked her skin. However, he pulled it out, stepping back slowly, still pointing her sword at her.

Stresci, smiled as she got up. "Stay right there or I'll crush her in an instant."

Suddenly a figure appeared hundreds of meters above them, without them noticing. They raised their hand forth, crushing the golem as cracks appeared all around Sofia's vicinity. She felt a heavy amount of pressure, from up above her, however it didn't affect her. Instead, she was freed of her restraint.

Stresci and Koji were shocked by what just happened, then turned around looking up at the figure releasing the energy.

"Who is that?!" Stresci yelled out as Koji stared at the figure in disbelief.

"There's no way... she looks completely different."

"Now Koji!" He heard from behind him, as he turned back to see Sofia, flying forth with a rotating sphere of fire in her hands. He nodded as he faced his palm up, gathering electricity into a spinning ball.

Stresci growled, looking at the both of them. Then jumped back on a flying platform and faced them as it flew on, trying to get her to safety.

She clasped both of her hands together. "Indestructible Fortress!" Massive iron, steel, and titanium beams flung to her, creating a massive layered dome to protect her.

"I hope you'll make better choices in your next life if you even have a soul," Koji yelled out, then raised his palm forward. "Static: Sandādoragon."

A lightning beam manifested, with the jaws of a lightning dragon, penetrating Stresci's dome like melted butter. She began to freak out feeling the heat get closer, and her dome giving way. Instinctively she produced several more steel walls, as defence in front of her, then exited out of the back of the dome, running away.

Koji's beam ripped through the entire dome, in a large explosion, yet he didn't stop, feeling her energy leave the vicinity, he frantically looked around, pausing his attack.

Sofia had been keeping tabs on her. Out of all the Novas, she was one of the most proficient at reading energy. Allowing her to immediately locate the fleeing princess, and then faced her attack toward her. "Ignite: Dança do Sol!" Orange flames poured out of the sphere, racing for her target.

Stresci noticed at the last moment and raised another stone wall to block the attack. Holding up, but completely cindered, as she let out a loud laugh, while flying away.

Sofia was starting to get angry. "I'm not strong enough."

"That's why we're here together." Koji chipped in, restarting his beam to connect with hers. Incinerating the last of the princess' defence as she tried to flee, screaming. "I'll kill you!" She yelled as her final words before the combination engulfed her.

Erupting the largest explosion, lighting up the night. Followed by a peaceful silence, as the last of her energy disappeared off the face of the Earth.