Jun, Sunday 9, 2007 - 5:15 AM
Eve's arm begins to heal as she takes in the appearance of this new enemy. Within seconds, she can tell that he is resistant to both physical attacks and magical weapons.
She shoots one of her metal rods at him, only for him to barely move his arm and cut it in half, causing it to explode. As the smoke settles, Obsidian stands unscathed.
Before Eve can react, a fist plants itself into her stomach, making her double over before she is launched, tumbling across the street.
Eve lies there, beaten, as she tries to stand up, only for her legs to give out, causing her to fall back down. She hears a grunt from above as Obsidian appears instantly, slamming his foot down onto her, crushing her into the ground and creating a massive crater.
–Up above–
Above the city, we see both Paradox and Norika watching everything with focused eyes.
The reason they do not join in or help Eve is because they want her to grow stronger and overcome this on her own. But if she were to get into something that she could not handle, they would step in.
"Do you think she can win?" Norika asks, concerned as well as interested in the outcome of this battle.
"Yes, she can win as long as that man Khaos does not join in, but if he does, then I will step in," he replies, focusing intently on Eve to see what she will do now that she has been overpowered.
"Well, let us see if she can," Norika turns her attention back to the fight.
–Back with Eve and Obsidian–
We see Zeyla flying high in the sky, looking down at Eve with the same emotionless eyes.
"What have you done to her? Why did you go after her?" Eve asks Obsidian, with malice radiating through her every word.
Deciding to go along with the conversation, he responds, "The reason we chose her is because of the potential she holds. Her race was all but destroyed, and within that race lies a special power, and that girl can obtain it."
Obsidian's response shocks Eve, but it only fuels her desire to free Zeyla from the hands of these people.
With this, she launches multiple metal rods that break the sound barrier, but Obsidian releases a roar that creates a shockwave, causing the rods to fall to the ground.
He then steps onto the ground with great force, causing the ground to crack and get thrown into the air, sending Eve flying high where she is launched back down by Zeyla.
A few clouds gather above them thanks to Zeyla, creating a massive shadow in the area around them. This prompts Obsidian to create five towns made of shadows.
From those shadows emerge multiple giant shadowy tendrils, moving at high speeds and wrapping around Eve’s arms and legs. The tendrils then throw her into a building and proceed to slam down against her over and over again.
While Eve was taking a beating from the shadowy tendrils, something started to happen inside her. Her mind started to process things at a much faster pace, and her body began to glow faintly. Her power began to go out of control, and her body began to disintegrate, leaving behind an ethereal form akin to a ghost.
Eve appears as a translucent, shimmering replica of her physical self, with floating hair and light emanating from within. Her skin becomes ghostly pale and translucent, revealing veins and organs beneath the surface. Her eyes glow with an eerie blue light, giving her a haunted appearance. Her hair floats around her head in an ethereal manner, no longer bound by gravity or physical constraints. Her clothes also become more diaphanous.
Looking around, Eve sees her reflection in the closest window, taking in her new appearance. Realizing she looks like a ghost, she decides to call this form "Ethereal Eve" or "Ghost Form."
Sensing something behind her, she sees Obsidian coming towards her. This time she can see his every movement. As his sword strikes her, she is surprised when it just passes through her.
Behind her, the shadowy tendrils all rush towards her, phasing right through her like Obsidian’s sword, making her realize that physical attacks do not affect her in this form.
In this ethereal form, Eve retains her telekinetic abilities and gains the power of intangibility, allowing her to phase through solid objects.
With this knowledge, Eve decides to go on the offensive. She charges Obsidian with her psychic gloves on and delivers a ferocious beating to him, attacking him from every direction with powerful punches.
Obsidian tries to retaliate with punches of his own, only for them to phase through Eve, who kicks him in the chin and launches him into a building with great force.
After crashing into the building, it begins to crumble and fall onto Obsidian. As he stands up, blood pools around him as he is covered in various wounds. With a mighty yell, he charges back at Eve, summoning multiple shadowy tendrils to send at her and protect himself.
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Upon seeing this, Eve just sighs as she phases through everything, appearing right in front of Obsidian and phasing her hand into his head, crushing his brain and killing him instantly.
She pulls her now-bloody hand out of his head before looking up at Zeyla, who launches a [Sonic Scream] at her, which also phases through her. Seeing that it does not work, Zeyla begins to alter Eve’s body, changing her molecular structure and making her tangible. She then flies at her at high speeds and pounds her into the ground.
The impact of the punch causes the ground underneath Eve to crumble. As she is bounced back up to Zeyla, Zeyla changes the ground into rubber just as Eve hits it and continues to punch her over and over again into the ground.
Bracing herself for the next punch, Eve creates a barrier in front of her to take the brunt of the attack before sending Zeyla into a building with her psychic powers.
Relaxing her mind, Eve closes her eyes and begins to focus on Zeyla, seeing her energy signal and movements. Within a moment, Zeyla appears in front of her and begins to send various punches, all of which fail as Eve is able to see and predict all of her attacks.
Eve, knowing that it would still be difficult to hold Zeyla down for too long with her powers, realizes she has to work fast. She stops Zeyla in place before phasing her hand into Zeyla’s head and using her telekinesis to rewrite her memory, reverting her back to how she was before.
Within seconds, the life returns to Zeyla’s eyes as she looks around and shakes her head from the cobwebs. At the same time, the memories of everything she has done to Neo City and the many towns after come back to haunt her. She begins to shed tears and sob.
Eve does not have time to console her as a pair of sharp nails come flying, trying to take her and Zeyla’s heads off. With quick reflexes, Eve stops the person in mid-air and sees that it is the woman who was next to Khaos.
Undeterred, the woman controls her hair and wraps it around Eve, but it passes through her like all the other attacks. Eve clenches her fist, crushing the woman instantly, turning her into blood and guts without remorse.
Just then, Khaos appears, jumping from the building he was on and landing on the ground with such force that the whole city crumbles and falls.
"Ahaha, you did a great job fighting my subordinate, but sadly for you, those were not the real ones. They were merely clones, weaker clones to be exact," Khaos tells her, shocking her because she was losing to a clone that was weaker than the real Obsidian.
"I see. Well, what brings the big bad boss to the front lines?" Eve taunts, though as she senses his power, she can tell that he is far stronger than Obsidian and Vermillion combined.
Khaos just smiles and gives a dark chuckle. He sends forth a burst of dark energy that grabs hold of Eve and begins to crush her.
‘Note to self: physical attacks don't affect me, but other kinds do.’
Eve tries to free herself, but her powers are being suppressed. Just then, Khaos is sent flying by a powerful sonic scream. Looking over, Eve sees that it is Zeyla, who has wiped the tears from her eyes and now has determination in her eyes—the determination to get revenge on the one who forced her to do what she did.
Looking over at Khaos, they both watch as he stands up unharmed before everything around them begins to warp and change. Their surroundings transform from the destroyed Metro City to a place with volcanoes and lava everywhere.
"What happened? Did we get sent somewhere else?" Zeyla asks, confused.
"No, we are still in Metro City, but it has been changed, and it only affects the area of Metro City," Eve replies as the reality around them shifts.
–Back with Paradox and Norika–
Jun, Sunday 9, 2007 - 5:20 AM
"Hmm, this new form is quite something. With a bit of training, she could become far stronger," Paradox muses.
Norika, on the other hand, is worried since this Khaos person can harm Eve in this form as well as warp reality on a small scale.
"Are you sure we can't go down and help her, Father?" Norika asks.
"It's not about 'can we'—it's about letting Eve grow and become stronger, as well as Zeyla. But if you want to go help, I won't stop you," Paradox waves his hand.
Norika huffs but stays by her father's side, going back to watching the battle.
"Besides, it's all about to be over. Though we will need to heal Eve after this," Paradox says with a grin, confusing Norika before she hears a loud cry.
–Back with Eve, Zeyla, and Khaos–
Eve is seen gathering up all of her energy inside her as she gets ready for one final attack. It will take time, so she has Zeyla buy her some time to finish it.
Zeyla flies around, bombarding Khaos with highly pressured and condensed sonic screams, tearing up the ground and sending cars flying.
Before she can launch another attack, she has to dodge as multiple beams of dark energy come flying at her. She dodges most of them, but a few still lands, injuring her and causing her to bleed profusely.
Looking over at Eve, she can see that she is almost done, and this entire mess can be over.
Zeyla shoots one final sonic scream at the ground, creating a smokescreen to hide Eve, who creates a massive ball of psychic energy the size of a meteor and sends it to Khaos. He punches it with the steel plate of his knuckles, but as soon as it collides, it creates a massive explosion and blinding light.
Once the light disappears, Khaos stands still relatively unharmed, save for a few scratches from the attack. But then his armor begins to crack and fall to the ground, leaving him in a black bodysuit.
The smiles on both Eve’s and Zeyla’s faces disappear as they see Khaos still standing before them. Both begin to fall to the ground, exhausted and tired, having used up the last of their strength, with Eve returning to her normal form.
Right before they hit the ground, Khaos sends two balls of dark energy to finish them off, but they vanish out of nowhere, and the two of them disappear.
Looking around, Khaos sees that Eve and Zeyla are floating next to a man with white hair and piercing crimson eyes, as well as a woman with flowing white hair and piercing crimson eyes.
Angered that someone would steal his prey, he launches multiple blasts of dark energy at them. As they land, he smirks, thinking he has won, only for both of them to be unharmed with a bored look on their faces.
“Norika, you can have the honors if you want since you seemed so restless during their fight.”
“Why thank you, Father. This is going to be so much fun,” Norika says with a gleeful and murderous expression.
Within seconds, Khaos finds a hole blown through his stomach by Norika before he is kicked away into a building with his head rolling off, only for him to be healed as if nothing happened.
Norika does not let up, launching multiple punches that rip off skin and break bones, making Khaos scream out in agony. Khaos is sent flying and lands sprawled on the ground before Norika steps on his chest, putting more and more pressure on it, caving it in.
This continues for a few hours until Norika is satisfied. She snaps her fingers, sending Khaos away to the other side of the planet, knowing that if she were to kill him, her father would only bring him back to life for his enjoyment and Eve’s "growth."
Norika goes over and sees Paradox healing Eve and Zeyla. Their energy is fully healed, but they will not wake up for some time, as they are both in a coma—Eve from overusing her new form and Zeyla from the beating she has taken and the memories of the wrong she has done.
“Hmm, they will both be out for some time. I’d say at least three months,” Paradox estimates, looking at them while also not wanting to just straight up heal them since this builds character.
“You are just too lazy, Father. Why don’t we just heal them fully? Does it really matter for them to grow like this?” Norika asks, confused because her mother trained her to death and into multiple comas, instantly healing her so they could get right back to training.
“Yeah, unlike me or you, they are not as strong or used to pain. They need their rest so their bodies don’t break down,” he sweatdrops, wondering what kind of training Scarlet put her through.
Jun, Sunday 9, 2007 - 5:35 AM
With that, Paradox teleports all four of them back to their house and lays both Eve and Zeyla on a bed so they can get adequate rest while he looks over them.
Looking out of the window, Paradox wonders what other interesting adventures he can get up to and what other “villains” will come to Paradox Earth to either destroy it or take it over. Deciding to leave it, he falls asleep into a world of darkness with no dreams.