Seeing Natsuko was injured, Daisy tossed her a satchel full of potato chip bags.
Natsuko blinked “Huh? Why do you—”
“Eat!”
The feldspar bunker Daisy had summoned trembled, cracks snaking up its structure. Natsuko tore open a bag of chips and downed them. As her fractured leg reassembled itself with the power of potato chips, she was for once glad of the bizarre logic of the Yishang’s world. Once it was fixed, Daisy pulled her up.
“I’ll ask why Boulanger is trying to kill you once we’re outta here,” Daisy said. “But I’m guessin’ we’re gonna go find Shui next?”
“Yeah,” Natsuko said, brandishing Taiyouken. Held in anger, the stark white blade erupted in white fire like waving gossamer.
“Aren't we gonna run for it!?” Daisy asked, eyeing the long avenue towards the entryway.
Natsuko shook her head. “No. They threatened to kill Shui. I gotta explain to them why that ain't happening.”
Sheets of rock crumbled off the bunker, signaling it was seconds from being destroyed.
“It’s three on two, Natsu, and all three of them are stronger than me, and you were getting clobbered just a second ago. Those are really bad odds!” Daisy said.
“That was a sucker punch,” Natsuko said, grinning wickedly. “Now it’s a fight.”
Before Daisy could protest, Boulanger’s sword, a tar-black sabre called Trou Noir, slipped through a crack in the wall and brought the whole thing tumbling down. In the next instant he was behind Daisy. He got off two of his four Pressing Attacks before Natsuko lunged forward and ran her own sword through his stomach. Boulanger parried her follow-up attacks and jumped back to safety. This took place in the span of a second. Natsuko saw the surprise in his eyes and realized he must've mistaken her feet-dragging while grinding mobs with the height of her ability.
Natsuko shot towards him with Black Fire. Boulanger pulled his own Black Fire into a roiling flame shield before her sword clanged against his, sending columns of black and white fire in a flaring pinwheel around them.
“Natsu! Watch out!”
A butterfly floated in the space between Boulanger and Natsuko’s clashing swords. She pushed off Boulanger, but she was already consumed in a cloud of butterflies. In every direction there was nothing but beautiful, fluttering wings. With the butterflies came a sensation of exhaustion and discomfort, not unlike one of her hangovers, but Natsuko knew if she stayed in the cloud she would be sucked dry of her energy until she was dead.
Trying to recall the direction of Daisy’s voice, she let loose a blast of Megaton where it might avoid her. This time, Natsuko was able to watch Megaton's flash followed by a bone white mushroom cloud in the middle of the annex where shops and homes had previously been. Unfortunately, at a certain level of power, there was no way to avoid unintentional casualties. Her regular abilities would’ve been a Desperation Art for anyone below the Top 20.
The butterflies didn’t dissipate, but they were pushed back by the explosion long enough for Natsuko to spot Ailing in their midst about to cast a Celestial Beam at Daisy. Natsuko bolted for Daisy, but the world suddenly spun as Boulanger plowed into her, launching her into a titanium pillar and knocking the wind from her. Right as Daisy spotted Natsuko, a beam of sunlight pierced through her, forcing a raw scream from her throat.
Stepping out of a cloud of smoke, Boulanger wiped Daisy’s blood off his sword onto his forearm as he made his way towards Natsuko. Butterflies floated after him, healing his wounds. This was a real fight now. Natsuko's former teammates were focused on their combat roles and cycling through abilities. In a way, the cold calculation of it was more frightening than blind fury. Their opponents were up a control Hero over Natsuko’s single-minded damage-dealing and Daisy’s utility abilities, and that made a lot of difference.
“You should’ve ran,” Boulanger said, sword raised at her. “Good thing you’re a stubborn idiot.”
He wasn’t wrong. Natsuko would admit to being a stubborn idiot, having outsourced her good sense to Shuixing. But like Pechorin said, she had rubbed off on her friends and they on her, and somewhere in her mess of a brain, she had to have at least an ounce of tactical knowledge, didn’t she? She let that knowledge calm her and her eyes settled on the plume of butterflies behind Boulanger. Then, she saw it: the flash of a robed sleeve. Boulanger lunged and struck Ailing through the chest, pinning her to the metal pillar that had braced Natsuko’s back a split-second before.
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Knowing Team Natsuko’s game plan was for Koyon to pin down the Utility Heroes, Natsuko immediately used her telekinetic pull to yank Daisy out of the way of a Spectral Keshik charge and caught her with her free arm.
“Whew! Thanks,” Daisy said.
Back on solid footing, Daisy clicked her pocket watch and the Capitol Building trembled. Feldspar and moonstone stalagmites burst through the sheet metal floor, opening fissures which dragged debris under and crushed them like enormous teeth.
“Wall! Now!” Boulanger yelled, paying Ailing no mind as he yanked his sword out of her ribs.
Destruction flowed outwards in rings from a calm epicenter originating on Daisy. Waves of rolling stone closed in on Boulanger before Koyon flew over in ghost form and threw up a rainbow wall stretching from one end of the cyclopean Capitol Building to the other. The tides of Daisy’s Tectonic Drift smashed against it, running up its side in sheets of jagged rock.
“May I once again recommend we run?” Daisy said, backing away from the prismatic wall.
The fuel chamber of Natsuko’s bravado was running on fumes, so she followed Daisy as the two sprinted for the exit. Peng formed under their feet as they ran and in one upward thrust lifted them free from the ground, ending Daisy's Tectonic Drift. The second it dropped, Prismatic Haven dropped with it, and Daisy took Peng into a barrel roll to avoid the Celestial Beam she knew was coming. The beam of searing sunlight missed them by inches. A second later Peng shot through the glass facade of the Capitol Building, spraying glittering crystal at the people fleeing the building, both Hero and Non-Hero.
“The only one fast enough to come after us is Boulanger,” Daisy shouted as they raced across the surface of Selenia. “But he can’t be dumb enough to try that when he’s out-numbered, right?”
One hand holding Peng’s craggy plumage, Natsuko turned around. A tar black missile shot out of the gap in the Capitol Building and honed in on them.
“Keep flying towards the space elevator, I’ll catch up,” Natsuko said.
Daisy gave her a nod and banked Peng towards the enormous transparent tube connecting Selenia and Po-Lin.
Natsuko rolled off Peng’s back and activated her own Black Fire. Boulanger tried to redirect around her and beeline for Daisy, but his trajectory was too shallow. Their collision released a monochromatic explosion. The shockwave reverberated outwards, knocking over crowds of fleeing Selenians. The Heroes among them watched less in fear and more in awe at a display of power that, by the Yishang’s design, was forever out of their reach.
Both she and Boulanger fell out of their respective rocket form, but as he fell, Boulanger activated Hegemony. His body turned into a single silhouette of eye-scorching white and his entire body became a single ball of roiling white fire. With cooldowns and use restrictions removed, Boulanger shot towards Natsuko and rammed her, grabbing her by the throat and dragging her towards lethal fall damage. She stabbed at him with her sword but his Black Fire shield absorbed her attacks.
As she was about to hit the ground, a rock turtle pulled itself free of the ground and bent its legs to cushion Natsuko’s descent. Ribs cracked, lungs emptied, blood shot from her mouth, but the turtle reduced the fall damage below lethal.
“Swap with me!” Daisy yelled.
In her dizzied state, Natsuko wasn’t sure whether she was flattered or embarrassed Daisy decided to turn around, but she was glad she did. She swapped with Daisy who, now underneath Boulanger, drew her legs up, planted her feet on him and kicked him into the air. Without hesitation, Boulanger hurled scorching arcs of flame at both Daisy and Natsuko, hitting Daisy point blank and setting her on fire. With more time to react, Natsuko rolled out of the way as a fireball burrowed through the rock behind her.
She scrambled for food to heal with, but before she could, Boulanger flashed behind Daisy and carved into her with his Pressing Attacks.
“You worthless, stupid, lazy bitch,” Boulanger screamed at Daisy, sounding as though he meant both her and Natsuko simultaneously.
He followed up his quartet of attacks by pressing a palm full of fire to Daisy’s face. Since it wasn’t an attack, the only effect was to subject her to scorching pain and force a jagged scream from her throat. Natsuko clenched her teeth. Forgetting the food, she couldn’t leave Daisy to another second of Boulanger’s torture. She burst forward with her own Black Fire and as she neared she yanked Boulanger towards her with her telekinetic grab to screw up the timing on his shield.
She was faster by a hair of a second, slipping Taiyouken between a wreath of flame closing around Boulanger’s body. Amid the crackling fire she heard a gasp as her sword stabbed all the way through him. Using the hilt as leverage, she kicked out and sent him flying across the surface of Selenia. He followed up with another pair of fireballs, but Daisy, her face scorched red and black across her cheeks and eyes, threw up a stone wall to absorb the blow.
“Daisy, look away,” Natsuko said.
“Huh? What—”
“Look away!”
Daisy turned around and covered her eyes.
Mouthing an apology that meant nothing to those caught in the crossfire, Natsuko picked a spot near where Boulanger was going to land that kept herself and Daisy out of danger and activated Hypocenter.
Harsh black shadows formed behind them as a second sun burst into existence over Selenia, engulfing the Capitol Building, the outlying buildings, Mooncom headquarters, and every Hero and Non-Hero within five kilometers. A few seconds later, the shockwave rolled over them, almost flattening Daisy before Natsuko braced her. When the initial flash had passed, Daisy turned back around to gaze at the giant orb of fire where most of the Selenian region had once been.
“My teammates were in that…” was all Daisy could think to say.
With no time to lose, she resummoned Peng and carried them towards the space elevator. There would be time for guilt after they reunited with Shuixing and Sofiane.