“Be careful.” Joseph warned, his entire body also charged up as a faint glow of the Wave emanated from his skin. Jolyne nodded, her hands swinging around as the Mark of Manifestation over her right eye pulsated as a small trio of puppets were conjured up around the King and stood guard.
“Little one, look for a way out.” Jolyne said, releasing a tiny puppet that she used to showcase Joseph and Alina’s love life on the coffee table into the air as it flapped like a butterfly and flew away.
“I was expecting something big, but the grand commander of PORA here?” The King chuckled nervously, “He got some nerve, I will give him that.”
The groups of generals crowded Mus, countless bright flashes went off in the main hall as their attacks slammed into Mus’s shielding. Contained within a semi-transparent bubble that vibrated as he enchanted it, Mus strolled through the middle of the main hall, casually sending out precise concentrated semi-transparent blasts that sent the generals flying backwards.
The generals, for even the smaller of Kingdoms, are often at River-Bending level’s of strength at the minimum, containing enough power to threaten entire states and smaller countries. However, those that were chosen to accompany the kings are often the stronger of generals, being Earth-Quaking, one whole tier above River-Bending.
Yet even as Mus faced against those Wave users on all fronts, he did not seem flustered at all. Like a singer self-absorbed in the midst of performance as the sounds of the entire world faded from his mind, he simply glided from one step to another, pushing down those in his way and knocking out those further away.
He moved towards the King of Yarka who’s still stuck inside the cubic prison. Then, as the remainder of his entourage attacked fiercely, Mus let out a heavenly hum, creating a shockwave that sent the bodies flying in all directions while also shattering John King’s Cast around the King of Yarka.
“There’s the out.” Jolyne said, pointing down to the cracks that grew on the ground as Joseph nodded. However, when he was about to move, strands of glowing gold Cast lines wrapped around his wrist as John stood firm at the other end.
“You are not going anywhere.” John said.
“Oh, you have picked the wrong day to pick a fight.” Joseph said, standing up and snapping his hands easily free from John’s traps.
“No. This is the perfect day.” John said, his brush pen rapidly spinning around him when Jolyne lunged forward, her fingers twisting as crunching sounds started coming off John’s brush pen, and as he looked down, the individual strands of his very Casting tool started forming into tiny figures before it started to rip the pen apart.
Distracted, he didn’t even notice Joseph’s massive body cutting through the air as his massive fists were about to find a home on John’s face! That was when an elliptical portal opened over John’s head, swallowing Joseph’s fists whole before it came around and slammed the fist back into Joseph’s own body.
“Argh.” Joseph yanked his fist back as John re-emerged from behind the portals, and he conjured up a Cast in the shape of a diamond shield before slamming it into Joseph’s body. However, he caught it with one of his giant hands before crushing through the shield with his raw strength and latching onto John’s arms.
Then, slamming his feet into the ground, Joseph tossed John’s body all the way around like a sandbag before he was ready to mash his face in right as John slipped through another set of portals, using the momentum of Joseph’s throw to kick him in the trunk instead.
However, Joseph didn’t budge for even a single inch, preparing to tackle John to the ground even as he instantly conjured up dozens of offensive and defensive Casts around his body.
“Argh! Flow Zone: Cast Barrage!” John grunted, countless blinding flashes exploding over Joseph’s body at the same time. However, the latter still emerged from the smoke with his body battered and bruised and wrapped his hands around John’s waist. John tried to recreate some distance between himself and Joseph, but the relentless grunt even followed him right through the sets of portals!
“Ordinarily, I cannot compete with you.” Joseph said, as the scenary around them rapidly shifts, going from the regular background of the main hall to the glowing whiteness inside of John’s portals, “But you cannot afford to conjure up your strongest Casts here, and that makes us equals.”
“You cannot do this forever.” John said, trying to free his arms and kneeing Joseph in the stomach, but it felt as if he had hit a tree instead, his knee cap now becoming sore and his legs twitching.
“Well…I have wrestled beasts far worse than you.” Joseph smirked, timing his feet with the next time John threw them out of a set of portals before planting his body down like a flat while maintaining a perfect side split over the portals, “For example, her.”
“Set us free!” Alina growled, her fist glowing snow white as she clubbed John in the jaw as a shockwave of cold spread all throughout the room. John appeared dazed from the attack, and Joseph tossed him in the air before Alina went from above and he came from below, sandwiching John within.
“No you don’t!” Shaila said rapidly, throwing her hands forward as thin silvery strands of the Wave wrapped around John’s feet and ankles before she yanked her love away from the attacks. Joseph was able to pull back his attack in time, but Alina didn’t bother, instead of slamming into his chest with full force and nearly caved in his chest.
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“Cough…cough…I deserved that…” Joseph submitted as Alina helped him up with a satisfied smile.
“Don’t you dare leave me next time.” Alina said, slapping Joseph in the butt before they turned to face Shaila and John.
In the meanwhile, as Joseph and John faced off, the King of Yarka also yielded like a marshmallow in heat, submitting the activation key for the defensive Cast around his kingdom to Mus.
“Very well. You may leave now.” Mus said, turning towards John who waved a hand and cast a portal next to the King.
“How…how do I know this isn’t a trap?!” The King asked, his voice a strange mix of furiousness and cowardice.
“You don’t.” Mus smiled with mystery, “You will just have to take my word for it. PORA intended to create a new era, but that doesn’t mean destroying all things of the old.”
“Y…you!” The King of Yarka pointed to one of the still moving generals, “You go through first!”
“Yes…cough cough…my king…”
John waved a hand, and a portal swallowed him whole, and the lucky general found himself back at his bedroom.
“Wait...I am really…out?” He turned his head around in confusion before suddenly, another portal opened over his head, and the gigantic body of the king dunked onto his body, nearly breaking his neck in the process.
“MOVE!” The King yelled, his stubby arms swinging helplessly as the hard landing nearly cracked the floor. He picked out a small blue and white communication Cast from his pockeet before activating it instantly.
“Sky Guardian Corp? There is a rebellion at the Academy! PORA is here! I repeat! PORA is here!” The King yelled out, but there was no response on the other end. In fact, the Cast seemed unresponsive even. John must have set up another Cast around the entirety of the floating structure itself to prevent any communications to the outside!
In fact, the projection Casts directed from the Academy towards the rest of the world have a few hours of delay, and to the rest of the world watching, Wu’s squad had just begun their battle against the strongest squad.
Worse yet, when the King poked his head by the window, he saw dozens of normal-looking golden chariots swirling around the building. The guards from the Union acting like security, but really just gatekeepers to keep them locked in.
“DAMN YOU! You will pay for this!” The King cursed, slouching back on the bed when the rest of his useless generals got dumped through the same portal as before, and they bounced off the King’s body like a bouncy castle.
Back at the main hall, Mus had already worked through dozens of country leaders all on his own. There were a few that tried to resist, but Mus quickly put his Cast collecting on hold to deal with the meager resistance.
“Tsk…he’s troublesome…” Alina said, stepping in front to shield Joseph who’s arguably in worse shape than she is, but Joseph instead walked in front of her once more.
“Like old times, ey?” Joseph smirked, “Let’s go!”
Both Joseph and Alina charged forward, their bodies joining together as Wave armors coated their bodies. Mus’s golden eyes widened, and he read their movements in the wave like notes on a sheet.
Reaching a hand up, he pressed his middle finger alongside his thumb, and snapped it, “Crackling Snap.”
A massive rip in the local Wave tore through the bodies of Alina and Joseph, though the former was affected far greater due to her stronger talents in the Wave. She dropped to the ground, veins popping over her forehead as Joseph swallowed the gurgling blood inside of his throat and picked up her body.
In the meanwhile, the weaker individuals in the room had also completely passed out from that single attack, as the Crackling Snap targetted the local wave field itself, yanking the Wave back like a cord on an instrument before releasing all that energy in such an instant, creating a literal ripple in the Wave that overwhelmed those who are not proficient at guarding their own internals against the influence of the Wave.
“Argh…” The King of Varous grunted and held his head as the pulsing headache nearly knocked him out at once.
“Old man!” Jolyne reached out to him, steadying him with her own Wave. However, the King shook his head and instead grabbed onto her hand.
“Go…go help your brother.” The King said when Mus turned and looked towards them.
“You must be the great King of Varous, the kingdom where Through Space and Time was.” Mus said, walking towards them as Jolyn shot up from her seat and conjured up even more puppets around her.
“Unlike others, I will not submit and give my Kingdom to you.” The King said, “You can kill me here, and the activation Cast will be lost forever.”
“Hmm.” Mus tilted his head to the side and noticed the veins over the King’s neck, “But I can easily torture you, and manipulate you from there, can’t I?”
Then, he puts his hand up again, his middle finger pressed against the thumb.
A massive finger reached from behind him and pinched onto his hand, and Mus half-turned his body, his elbow slamming into the giant man behind him as the sound of impact sounded like a drumbeat.
“JOSEPH!” Jolyne screamed as Joseph’s body was launched straight up into the ceiling, and when he came crashing down, his eyes were rolled up, and his chest had completely collapsed inward.
“JOE!” Aline shouted, crawling towards him before Mus turned his attention back towards the King who’s visibly pained to see Joseph hurt, but right now, he must perform his duty as a king.
“Or I can…torture those you care about while torturing you?” Mus said playfully when suddenly, his own clothes were ripped apart, each strand of fabric turning into tiny little puppets that started biting into his glowing skin.
“You shall die for that…” Jolyn said, the Mark of Manifestation expanding to cover her entire face, and she floated in the air, her fingertips connected to all of her puppets through strands of the Wave, “Perfect Synchrony: Fabrication Army!”