Chapter 163
Browning Corporation A Tulpa Company
Saturday (Early Morning)
Within seconds of not having the fully activated sphere nearby, Alexa could feel the moment that her ability to use magic was once again restored. Her first impulse was to immediately begin casting spell after spell, playing into her strength, and she was just about to do just that, when she realized something. This was likely one of the few times where she could practice a fight in hostile conditions, with the threat of having her magic negated at any time.
Logically Alexa knew, or at least felt, that this would not be a one-off occurrence. Once the elves found out her weakness in these orbs, they would likely use them relentlessly against her until she could muster a good counter to such a situation. That was why Alexa thought about her actions for all of one second, before using her innate skills. While her base Attributes were only set at 345, nearly double from where she started from, with her titles and bonuses she knew they were now well over 1,215 and while the elves might have a few people in their armies with elite classes that would have more Attributes. She was certain in one asset of her build, namely that she was the strongest human in this building. There were more than a few Supers, like Wondra and other members of the League that were all around stronger, but for here, from what she saw, barring any other elves that were granted classes that would let them show their racial dominance over the humans they were sent to subjugate, Alexa was confident that she could handle herself here. Especially with how her Unarmed Combat (Tier II) skill, along with her Analytical Eye (I) were telling her the weak points of the attackers before her.
Still riding the high of energy, she absorbed from the elven Field Commander, Alexa decided this would be a good training scenario. Now that all the elves were out of the way, she mentally assigned herself but one task, disable all the humans and cure any that were infected with the vampire virus.
A quick scan showed that the four scientists were still down, two were completely knocked out from the wailing attacks, while the two that remained conscious, the leader and Martin both had blood pooling from their eyes and ears and were still crying wildly. With those few out of the way, Alexa shifted her laser-like focus forward to the vampires and elite troops that now lined the hallway.
Alexa already had a slight opening as the sphere she Telekinetically hurled forward had taken down the female vampire guard and pinned her to the wall.
With her only clear exit being either the elevator or the stairwell directly beside the elevator, Alexa realized there was but one way to escape, through the sea of people, so that is what she did.
Charging forward, she was a blur as she darted into the sea of people that lined the walls, all pulling out their weapons.
Standard Kinetic weapons stopped being as effective against Supers once they got to five hundred in their endurance Attribute. The elves and orcs both knew this coming in, and part of their process for showing their benevolence to the humans they came to help under their wings, they brought high powered energy weapons designed to disable even the most powerful of Supers. The only problem these weapons had is that many were only designed to fire one shot, and anyone caught within the blast radius of the shot would also be taken out with that same blast. The kick back from the weapon was also an issue, as it would often send the operator flying backwards if they were not braced or prepared for the attack. Range was also a factor as most stopped being effective after fifteen meters, so what you were left with was a one-shot weapon that required people to get up close and personal to a Super who could not be stopped by normal means, this was why many in the field called the weapons Death Wish, as you had to have a death wish if you truly intended to use the weapon. The idea being that if you missed, you would have one pissed off Super on your hands. While these weapons were calibrated to take down supers with Attributes up to three thousand, they were slated to be the most effective against Supers that had less than half that, or Supers that were in Alexa’s current range.
Normally weapons like the Death Wish were scoffed at, as they had no true practical advantage, until you got into urban warfare settings like this. Why these were not used against dragons, particularly those in England, the answer to that is simple, they were, but they were not effective, thus the new human nickname for these alien weapons that, while capable of taking down most human Supers, were incapable of doing more than annoying dragons or other highly evolved monsters. That said, a narrow hallway with only so many ways to proceed forward, made for the perfect spot to deploy these weapons, and that is just what the security crew had been doing. The guards who came off the elevator were apparently prepared to take down any would be Super who entered their facility and were now able to set up a forward line that had three guards wielding the weapons.
Alexa watched the three Death Wish wielders set up their interlocking arcs of fire. If she had to give one word that described their set up, Alexa would have to say the word she would use would be impressed. The set up was spread out enough that everything from the top right to the bottom left was heavily covered by fire, with only a few minor holes that would no doubt still provide enough to at the very least clip her as she made her way forward.
Then before she had a chance to either send her sphere flying forward to hit one or multiple guards, or to do something to disrupt the formation the highly trained assault team had set up, they fired right as Alexa got in range.
Dodge and roll.
Alexa, seeing the blast firing, did the only thing she could do. On instinct, she darted to the bottom right corner, to one of the two spots she noted as a possible escape spot. Unfortunately, she was not nearly fast enough to avoid being hit by so many high-powered blasts all in one confined spot.
BOOM!
The waves of force clipped her and sent her spiraling back. With all of her traction gone, due to leaving her feet in an attempt to dive faster, she now found herself at the mercy of the blasts, and the blasts were not that forgiving.
Whoosh.
Alexa found herself getting hurled backwards, her body rolling end-over-end as she slammed into the nearest open cubicle.
Oof.
The blasts and sudden impact into the cubicle were hard enough to make Alexa lose her focus for a moment.
Clank, clatter.
That was enough time to have the Telekinetic grip she had on the ball release, also releasing the female vampire, Erica, that had been pinned to the wall because of her ball. The vampire also seemed to suffer from the intense burst that passed by her. Even though she was in an alcove with space provided, she still felt and was now being burned by the blasts of energy that ripped through, tearing away her arms and legs and cauterizing the stumps that were left. As gruesome as Erica’s wounds were, they were nothing compared to the wounds caused to the other vampire guard who had been moving to try to intercept Alexa as she made her approach. His body was also hit by multiple blasts, just like Alexa’s body was. But unlike Alexa who had been merely clipped, his body had taken at least one blast full on, while getting clipped by others. His body combusted into flames and almost began disintegrating into an ashen pile of smoke immediately.
As for Alexa, well she was, well she didn’t know how she felt. She could tell that the blast tried to react to her own internal energy source and spin it out of control, which likely caused some type of magically generated chemical reaction that was meant to cook her from inside out. Unfortunately for her attackers, the weapons they were using were not designed with the intent to take down an Absorber.
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While the blasts did cause her internal energies to spike and begin to pulse, her body used the energy to speed up its own magical decomposition ability. This would be the equivalent of firing a green laser to destroy and cut everything, only to find that when you point that same green laser at a particular type of plant, rather than having the plant combust into flames and bisected parts, you realize that the plant began to grow at a rapid rate due to the nutrients being provided by the condensed light particles.
For Alexa, she felt both the burn and then she felt the pure ecstasy of energy flooding her body. Energy that her body automatically began converting to improve her Regeneration, energy that her body instantly used to fuel her neural processes and to help her analyze things that tiny bit faster.
“Get her.” The leader of the team that fired the main round down the center of the hallway shouted. While he had been rocked backwards from the blasting of his weapon, he had managed to keep his footing. The other two were not so lucky, but fortunately they collapsed into teammates that were already behind them and hoisting them up.
Stomp, stomp.
That command was enough to get the highly mobile team to move forward. A team that had already taken out one of its own, a vampire guard who had been caught in the crossfire. They also seemed to completely disregard the now limbless vampire that had only been spared death due to a slight alcove created by blast doors that were designed to provide protection and a fallback point against invading hostile forces.
Alexa used this moment of confusion to hide, she was already within the open cubicle system, having crashed through one, and landing just outside another. For now, she wanted to use the time to both hide herself, and to prepare her own surprise. With so much extra energy going through her, she felt that it would almost be a waste not to use it properly, this was why she decided to use one of her ultimate trump cards. While she knew it would likely be a dead giveaway to anyone that was recording her, or knew what the attack was, she still had to at least try. That was why she took a few seconds, to roll out of the way, to low crawl in between the different cubicles.
Then once she was at a spot where she felt she would get the necessary thirty seconds of time to hide, she began casting the basics of her spell.
“Search for her.” The leader said, the fact that they knew they were looking for a female Super was readily apparent, as it was hard for Alexa to disguise her natural form inside the Super suit. This would make hiding what she was about to do even harder, but it had to be done.
Slow scrape.
The soldiers moved slowly and cautiously, trying to make sure they searched every spot fully, before moving on. No one wanted to be blindsided from behind. So all the guards moved slowly and assuredly. Unfortunately, they moved at a well measured pace that was far faster than Alexa had anticipated. Fortunately, she was so fueled by the lingering rays of energy, that her process was also increased.
“What is that?” Someone asked, no doubt seeing the first signs of what Alexa was doing.
“Contact left, contact left.” A second voice called out.
Silence.
Alexa could feel the weight of so many gazes all turning towards here. All were no doubt carrying some form of automatic weapon, but for the moment no one said or did anything. Then finally, after a long second, the attack she had been preparing for was complete. Nodding to herself, she let the golden sphere she had created leave her immediate area and fly upwards.
“What is that?” Someone shouted.
Ratta-tatta-tat.
Just as Alexa figured the magical glowing orb she had created drew everyone’s attention. Alexa used this time to double back around and change her positioning, while also taking in a view of the battlefield.
That movement, that one look was all she needed to see the seven men that were in a wide arc around the room.
Focusing her mind, she split her attention, using a portion to keep the sphere moving towards the center of the room, she paused, thinking that she would need to use Telekinesis to grab and push everyone back into the hallway. From there she would detonate her power word Hope.
What she didn’t expect, what no one expected was what happened next.
The golden floating word was up high, over eight feet in the air and nearly visible from everywhere. This was done on purpose, as she wanted to make sure she had the word at an angle so that everyone could see the word and hopefully be affected by it. However, she knew that from numerous trials, that her power words only had a small radius, with thirty meters being the maximum distance she could expect the words to have any true impact. That was why she was mentally preparing to grab the soldiers that were spread out and cluster them all together with one giant Telekinetic throw that would likely use most, if not all her remaining concentration and energy.
What she had not accounted for was for the high-flying orb to be visible to the still charged Tulpa sphere that lay on the ground in the back testing chamber would be able to visibly see the floating power word that she had created. It was an oversight, and one that had an immediate result, as a glowing beam of light shot up from the orb that was on the ground and directly connected to her floating power word. Instantly Alexa panicked, trying to move her power word Hope away from the beam, but it was no use. Alexa knew from experience that the beam of light moved at the speed of light and was seemingly impossible to outrun.
Mentally she almost let go of the word, assuming that it was just a waste of energy at this point, but to her surprise the word she had cast still held, even after a second of being in contact with the beam of light. Then after a second, when the sphere didn’t shrink, Alexa noticed that the sphere actually began to grow in size.
“What is happening?” Vampire guards cried out, seeing the golden light of the sphere and panicking in recognition.
“Duck and cover!” The leader shouted, as he took his own advice and ducked behind a partially destroyed cubicle.
“Ah!” The scientists that had also been hiding in that same cubicle cried out as the commander did a flying belly flop into the tiny workspace.
Alexa tried to move the power word, she tried to make it so it would still be able to target the people that were even now hiding, yet, despite her best efforts, she could not get it to move. It was as if the golden beam coming from the anti-magic sphere was not only locking on to her power word, but that sphere was forcing it to grow in both size and potency.
After three seconds, the amount of energy coursing through the word was intense, far more intense than anything Alexa had ever felt before, let alone something she had control over. And she did have slight control over the power word, that much was true. If she chose, she could absorb the energy back into herself, though she knew that with the sheer volume of energy being pumped into her power word such an act would be extremely painful to say the least.
Static.
The tide of energy being channeled through the room and into her power word became so intense that the hairs on the back of her neck began to rise. At this same point everyone began moving and panicking. Those that could hide did so, one guard desperately tried to call for the elevator that had apparently been summoned away since the time of the team’s exit.
Then the word got so plump that it began straining against even Alexa’s consciousness. The light of the orb glowed brightly, filling the room with so much energy that after ten seconds, an eternity in combat, Alexa finally lost control over the power word and released her grip on it. The moment she did, several things happened all at once.
The first thing that happened was the single largest chime Alexa had ever heard sounded off inside her mind. The next thing she noticed was that the light that had been channeling forward from the one orb in the antechamber finally stopped flowing into the power word Hope that was even now dispersing. The light of which was so bright and powerful that it flooded everyone and everything in the room. Even darkened corners of the room were touched and felt the pulse of energy. Alexa felt the moment that an echo of the power word Hope was reabsorbed by the sphere within the antechamber. From there she could feel the way the energy of the sphere shot out wildly in all directions trying to link out to other orbs. At least that is what happened. The arcing energy bent its way over and around the lip of the antechamber that had held it in place, and then connected to the orb that had been lying in the hallway. Simultaneously, the power word Hope, also fed energy into the second temporarily lifeless sphere. This caused a looping reaction, to occur, as the spheres seemed to act as an unknown amplification unit for the power word. A word that began pulsing larger and brighter than ever before.
Within a second, the power word had grown to be as bright as the sun and began taking up the size of the room. The moment the light touched Alexa’s she visibly winced, but her fears were unfounded, as the energy was warm, but not excessively so. Then she felt the moment the energy that had been building between the three points in space, the two spheres, and the floating power word pulsed, and then exploded like an EMP bomb. At least that was the closest thing that Alexa’s mind could associated to the activity, as the blast was not bound by geographic or physical boundaries and seemed to pulse through everything within the immediate area.
Silence.
There was a brief moment of silence, as no one moved.
Using this moment, Alexa moved, the first thing she did was go over to retrieve her once again dormant orb that was lying on the ground next to the clearly shell-shocked vampire. As she arrived, she noticed that this was not a singular occurrence, as everyone who was here had been affected by the blast in some way.
Seeing the limbless vampire, Alexa focused part of her mind and Healed the limbs, sending forth enough energy to regrow the limbs, albeit slowly. From there, she grabbed the orb that tingled her fingers as she picked it up. Then with the orb safely in tow, she made her way through the hallway of disabled guards. Many of whom were relatively high in level, but all had been affected by the overcharged blast in some way.
Ding.
The elevator arrived, and Alexa froze as she expected some type of resistance to come. But what she saw was something she never expected. Two high level elves were in the elevator, both of whom were clearly passed out in the elevator car.
The blast even affected people within the elevator? Alexa mused to herself as she remembering her need for disguise cast a quick Illusion around herself that hid her movements, and then she made her way down the stairs to the lobby, where she noticed the two Fledgling Vampire guards that had been on duty were now passed out at their desks.
The blast even got down here, Alexa noted to herself as she made her way out of the now sleeping Browning Corporation Headquarters building and made her way under the cover of darkness that still lined the nighttime sky. The world around her was seemingly unaware of what had happened, the alarm that was set was apparently a localized one, as its ringing was inaudible in the crisp night air of the city. Only the sound of early motorists making their commutes to their jobs could be heard in the distance.
Only after she was outside the building did she even realize she could possibly have taken the second sphere. A second sphere would have been nice, as she could have tested for that amplifying process that she observed. Still the operation hadn’t been a complete loss, she had what she originally came for, with minimal human casualties. In all, she would have to consider the mission a success, even if there were things she could do to improve upon.