There were many promises I made to Rosalina before she disappeared before my eyes, and they were promises I intended to keep. It was a good thing the path to achieving that first one was directly above me, still restrained by the spiked, brittle grass. The energy in my body was itching to be released as I watched Jason struggle, like a radioactive beast in a cage. Everything in my body was screaming at me to kill him, but I had to hold that voice back. After all, I only had one minute to save Sunflower, and she mattered a lot more for now.
Now that I’d absorbed Rosalina, the task should’ve been easy with this new form of mine. Vines were on the top of my head, reaching down to the middle of my back like dreadlocks. Grass was wrapped around my legs, shaped like baggy sweatpants, and the outline of a rose’s head bloomed in the center of my chest like an emerald tattoo.
I crouched my legs, flexing the ooze of my thighs, and jumped straight towards Jason, spawning a leaf blade aimed for the hand holding the girl’s head. To my dismay, the dry crumbled to dust, the shockwave of my jump destroying Rosalina’s final attack. Jason began to fall, stuffing Sunflower’s head inside his white coat as he readied his machete. Our blades collided, and he tried to land a kick on my side but I smacked his leg away. A cluster of leaves flew out of my mouth and blinded him while I fell, conceding the first clash.
With a swift punch, the masked man sent the leaves spiraling back in a whirlwind, barely a second after I fell. However, I had expected it. I released another bunch of leaves from my hands, more than what I fired before, and they were immediately caught in the whirlwind Jason created. Then, I sprouted stinkweeds on my feet and the gas blasted me upwards, giving me some view of Jason in the air.
Somehow, the guy was able to fly just like me! No…not flying–he was standing on the air, or rather, his feet were planted on the radioactive energy flowing in the air. I remembered him doing that during the fight with the dragon, but I had no idea how he was. Maybe a Radius ability?
I set that thought aside once I plummeted to a position where I was right behind Jason. I aimed my fingers and fired a bullet.
“Shot in the Chest!”
My bullet disappeared along with a large portion of my chest. Without hesitation, I raised my hands and vines erupted my palms, surging forward as a convulsing mass of life. They crashed into Jason’s body with the force of a tidal wave, thrusting him forward until he slammed against the arena’s wall. Once I reached his body, I spawned a few more vines from my fingertips and slipped them through his restraints, searching for Sunflower’s head.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
I didn't know the specifics of what Jason’s Radius ability was, however I had an idea of what it allowed him to do. He uses a phrase that would be a way for someone or something to die, and it happens right after those words leave his mouth. So, as long as I kept these vines over his mouth then I should be fine. There was still one thing I was confused on though…
He could've easily defeated me had he just said something like “Decapitation” or “Sliced to Bits” like he did last time, so why didn't he just do that before? Was he overconfident or did his power have limits? Answering those questions would have to wait as my vines finally made contact with the head. But I didn't forcefully pull it out from Jason’s coat. Instead, I absorbed it, her head liquifying into energy, pumping through my vines like blood till it entered my body.
The moment the hole in my chest regenerated, Jason broke free of the bindings and caught me off guard with a blow to my jaw. I’m sure the maniac expected me to go flying after a punch with that amount of power to it, but unfortunately for him I didn’t move an inch. I simply stood my ground and watched him intently with hollow eyes.
“AI-”
I grabbed his face before, shoving it into the wall before he could use his ability. His muffled growls vibrated against the wall as I held him there, his hands clawing at mine in a futile attempt to break free. I couldn’t let anybody stop me from what I needed to do, and no amount of struggling was gonna knock me down just yet!
I opened my mouth, a rush of energy crawling towards my mouth. Then, with an explosive release, a beam unleashed out of me, striking Jason head-on. It propelled Jason like a rag doll out of the arena and into the city beyond, culminating in an explosion that eviscerated a couple buildings in the area. The arena trembled under the force of the blast, its walls groaning as dust and debris rained down around me.
A blast like that wouldn’t kill him. I was sure of it. This wasn’t a battle of two strong fighters who wanted to compete to see who was the strongest. This was a battle between two stubborn guys who just wanted to beat the shit out of each other, no matter how much pain we had to take.
Quickly, I shot another set of vines at Sunflower’s body and began to absorb her. Before she died, Rosalina didn’t tell me how exactly I could revive the girl, but the moment I gripped the mother’s neck in our final conversation…I realized the answer was quite simple. Sunflower’s body was turned into grass, and yet everything about it was also pure energy. It wasn’t just pure energy though. It was Rosalina’s energy, and she was radiating with it.
Rosalina turned the kid into ooze using her own body to…immortalize her. No one could ever hurt her or kill her once she took on that form. She’d be just like a plant…
I couldn’t turn her back into what she once was, however I can keep her alive…keep her aware of her lost humanity. And the only way to do that was to absorb and release. Just like I did with all my other techniques.
Absorb Sunflower, rebuild her inside of me, and release her as one, living body. I didn’t know how long that would exactly take. I can’t really distinguish between all the energies in my body.
Though, I did know one thing for sure.
The first and second step to fulfilling that promise I made…were now complete.