Chapter 08-03

Anger rushed through Alex’s veins. He pushed against the person’s powers that held him down. And for so much time he felt nothing, but he started to feel it. He started to feel the super’s power starting to waver. Alex assumed that his energy must be getting low.

Colvontra knelt and picked the crystal up from the ground. He handed the crystal to Salstasa who carried it back to the pedestal where it had been hovering before she had taken over Obsidian’s body.

She placed the crystal down and it began to hover like it had been before. It remained inert and dull looking.

“This body that you have given me, my love, it is so full of power.” Salstasa said flexing her arms, “It’s so much more powerful than last time. How many years has it been?”

“We’ve slumbered for over fifty years.” Colvontra asked.

“I feel something different in this body, something different in this world.” She said. They spoke as if there was no one else in the room.

Alex didn’t mind. It gave him time to wait for the perfect moment when gravity couldn’t maintain the strong hold. Alex could feel that the power was reducing like he was adjusting to account for the energy drain.

Just a little more time. He thought to himself.

“I feel it too. I’ve been able to access not only the powers that this body had access to, but also every power that I have had in the past. At their peak power.” Colvontra said. He flexed his fist. Silver bolts of energy coursed down his arm.

Great, what kind of powers could that be? Alex asked himself.

Colvontra walked to a larger pedestal at the end of the pathway from the back door. Hovering was a larger crystal that was dull like the one that was just used.

“Once the cooldown finishes we should be able to create new crystals so next time we must slumber more of our power will come with us.” He said caressing the crystal.

“Excellent!” Salstasa said.

It was time for Alex to make his move. The super that was holding him down had reduce his gravity enough. Alex funneled energy into his super-strength power. He pushed the man back and stood up to his full height. As fast as he could Alex turned and used seismic punch on gravity. The man flew back less than three feet and burst through the black stone wall.

Salstasa yelled and ran at Alex as fast as she could. The purple pulses began to indicate that her power was active. Alex attempted to punch her while focusing energy in the super-strength, but he didn’t use Seismic punch.

He threw a punch at her face. She pushed his fist away. He tried to throw a hook again towards her head and again she pushed it out of the way. She moved incredibly fast. He attempted to round house kick her using the momentum from the deflected punch. She grabbed his leg and twisted spinning him in the air. He landed on his hands and pushed himself back up. Alex kicked back and finally his attack fell true. Her head snapped back at the impact.

When she lowered her head back down her face was in an awful scowl. She punched him hard in the gut sending him flying through the air. He slid across the ground before tumbling end over end and coming to a stop on his stomach. He groaned in pain pushing himself up off of the ground.

He had a thought. Salstasa had returned her crystal to the pedestal, and the large one had to be Colvontra. What if that was the key to why they were so strong, but the level for the mission was within his range. He took a deep breath and clenched his fists moving into a fighting stance.

“Why do you continue to fight. It is clear that we are far superior to you.” Salstasa said in a hackling tone.

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“I will save my girl.” Alex said in a hiss. He ran at Salstasa kicking himself up off of the ground. Throwing his fist out in front of him he went for a head attack, but it was only a ruse. She grabbed his wrist and pulled it down. At that moment he activated his Air Sprint skill. He rocketed past her.

His target was never her. In a blur of a flash he shot past both her and Colvontra. He smashed into the pedestal which remained frim to his impact. He jumped to his feet before either of them could react and grabbed the crystal.

It a flash they were both standing right beside him, but he didn’t hesitate. He used his super-strength and smashed the stone onto the pedestal. It shattered into slivers and Colvontra began to scream.

“NO!” He yelled as he dropped to his knees. Light began to stream from his face it grew brighter and brighter as his yelling grew louder and louder. Finally, he fell to the side silent.

“What have you done?!” Salstasa yelled. She lunged at Alex.

In a furry of blows that Alex could only try to slow down she attacked him. Punch after punch. Kick after kick she attacked him without thinking. With bother her fists she punched him in the gut sending him flying back until he smashed into the wall.

Alex grunted pushing himself up using the wall for support. His health was down by half, but he still had fight left in him. He was also starting to formulate a plan. Without hesitation he lowered his head and ran right back into the fray. Their movements were a blur as he did his best to move her across the room.

When the time came, and she was lined up he made his move. He clenched his fist and activated seismic punch. His attack landed true in their furious exchange and the blue light filled the room. As planned she was thrown back into the pedestals on the side of the room. Specifically, she was thrown into her own pedestal. The crystal flew from the setting and hit the wall. It fell to the ground.

Alex activated his flight ability and flew towards the crystal. He used fifty of his last seventy points of energy to activate his Air Sprint skill. He shot past the other pedestals and landed next to where her crystal had landed.

She stood and looked on him in horror.

“Give me my girl back.” He seethed as he stomped on the crystal. It shattered into a mission small pieces as Obsidian arched her back and screamed. Light rocketed from her face as she dropped to her knees and a moment later she fell to the side in silence.

Alex didn’t have much time to come up with a plan. Every single one of the others in the room, children and miners alike attacked at the death of their masters. Given that he didn’t really like the idea of fighting six and eight-year-old children he started to dart as fast as he could around the room to stay out of their reach. He flew up into the air when he had to and was glad to see that there weren’t any of the, for lack of a better descriptor, possessed that could fly.

He streaked across the room and swooped down to grab the dull crystal when he spotted one. As soon as he had it in his hands he there at a wall or at the floor. Once he held the crystal in his hand and crushed in with his super-strength. Each time a stone was destroyed one of the people trying to attack him would fall to the ground in a flash of bright light until he was no longer being pursued.

Alex dropped down and landed on the ground next to Obsidian. He lifted her head and looked at her face. Their fight had not done any lasting damage to her. She was breathing normally; she was just unconscious. Tapping the side of her face he brought her back from dream land.

“It would be nice if you would keep from getting knocked out in the start of these fights. I pay you to help me, not sleep.” He joked.

“I do love my sleep.” She retorted without hesitation.

“You got me there.” Alex said. Obsidian leaned up and after she shook her head for a second, she stood up from the ground. Alex lent her a hand to make sure that she didn’t fall over.

“Did we fight?” she asked holding onto her side.

“That we did. Well technically I fought a century’s old being who brought extra power into your body but let’s not split hairs.” Alex said letting go so that she could stand on her own two feet.

“I can remember flashes.” She said nodding.

“I guess the question we have to tackle is, what do we do about these?” He said motioning to the dozens of unsmashed crystals that floated in the room.

“I don’t know, but that lady. The things that I saw in my head that she wanted to do.” Obsidian said with a shudder, “I come from a family of villains, but that shit was straight up evil. Talk about fire and brimstone.” She said as she shook her head.

“I mean but was it just her?” Alex asked.

“Each of these crystal holds a blood thirsty disciple. They will do anything to fulfill their master’s plans.” Obsidian explained, “They don’t have a choice. They were corrupted by her powers.”

“Alright, that was all I needed. You move the people we’ve rescued into a neat pile. I will dispose of these.” Alex said nodding towards one of the children then to they crystals.

Obsidian went to work with a curt nod. She began to gather the unconscious people and carry them towards the door where she would lean them against the wall.

Alex retrieved his crowbar. He walked up to the first pedestal and took a deep breath. He reared the length of bent metal back and swung at the floating crystal. The glass like object shattered sending a spray of shards flying. He moved on to the next and then the next. Before long there were no more crystals remaining in the room.