As the Tempest attempts to grab Agil, holding him back from pursuing the battered Kokei, Victor kicks the Tempest hard in the abdomen, causing his body to coil forwards and let out a pained gasp of air. He watches as Agil leaves the kitchen, out of his range, left to deal with Victor while Kokei was vulnerable.
Victor continues to kick the Tempest, and past the table along the left side relative to them, all of the seats at the dining table are to be empty, as the table is entirely abandoned with the batches of cupcakes left on the table untaken. None of the three guests were seated.
In the far gray room, Kokei’s body lays against the shelves, not having moved after Rohan left. Her pink eyes are partly open, noticeably disoriented, as dark red blood is dried on her white cupcake hoodie. Nearby, the sound of grunting and yelling follows loud bangs and booms, as though a war was being fought inside the relatively small house.
From the other side of the room, a man approaches the beaten Kokei, vulnerable with the Tempest and Artificer dealing with their own threats. The man reaches Kokei and stares down on her, and she gradually raises her head up to look at him, tilting her head in confusion before softly muttering, “Ekitai?”
Kneeling down, Ekitai inspects Kokei, “Are you okay? Come on, you need to get up, it’s not safe here.” He extends his pale, boney hand out to her, genuinely serious about their predicament.
Kokei grunts tiredly before grabbing onto Ekitai’s hand, firmly gripping it for support. Ekitai stands up and pulls her, aiding her as she accumulates enough strength to stand on her own feet before she staggers forwards.
Still adrift, she asks, “What’s going on? There was someone at the door and…then I’m here…what’s all that sound…?”
Ekitai steps back to give Kokei space, attempting to explain, “Well, there’s these people who came in and I think they’re after Rohan, I guess it makes sense since I did meet him when he got attacked by a group of people, but I swear those guys are something else, maybe even Exhumans but I don’t know. Are you okay?”
Kokei shakes her head, letting go of Ekitai’s hand and placing her freed hand on her forehead, still shaken. “What? Attacked? Exhumans? Ekitai…what did you bring into my house?”
Ekitai glances back towards the kitchen and then returns his gaze to Kokei, perplexed for a moment by her question. His eyebrow raises as he asks for clarity, “Wait, huh?”
Kokei lets out a displeased sigh before persisting, “Who are these people you even brought in? Ekitai, what kind of people are you hanging out with? Come on Ekitai…why can’t you just take things seriously…I’ve worked so hard to avoid all this, why are you bringing it to me?”
Ekitai’s jaw hangs out as he lowers his head in shame, for the revelation dawns on him amidst the chaos that it was his fault for Kokei’s state, and her house being turned into a battleground. He raises his head and watches as the Tempest dashes backwards into the dining room, a glowing cable of blue light attached to his back and connected to the far window, reeling him away. Suddenly, Victor appears directly in front of the Tempest, his body surprisingly airborne in such fashion as if manifesting out of thin air, his fist instantly contacting his face which causes the Tempest to fly backwards into the window. The cable snaps, and in reaction the Tempest dashes to the side, moving towards the entrance side of the house.
He then turns his head to the left to see that past the table and in the distance, the Artificer is firing shots at Rodrick, who’s continuing to block it while attempting to swing his sledgehammer.
Calamity and chaos ensued inside his innocent friend’s home, with the greatest victim being the house as it’s ravaged by both sides. Standing before it all, viewing it all, he stares at the fight broken out against the man he befriended after meeting him in a fight. Thinking about it for a mere second, it should’ve been immediately clear what would’ve followed this man he invited to his old friend’s house, and he should’ve known it would cause such catastrophe. Now dreading the guilt of his foolish actions, Ekitai acknowledges that he had brought a bomb into his friend’s home.
Sighing in shame, Ekitai turns his gaze back to Kokei, “I’m so sorry Kokei…I’ll make it right to you, I’ll get rid of these guys and then we’ll get out of here! I’m so sorry, here, you should get somewhere safe, maybe your room, we’ll- I’ll keep them down here.”
Kokei lets out a huff before apprehensively nodding her head. Ekitai smiles softly while still drowned in guilt. However his tranquility is short-lived as his gaze jumps to the kitchen opening, where the man in the long black overcoat steps out. His gray gaze immediately jump to Kokei, fixated on his target upon instant recognition.
With a widened yellow stare of shock, Ekitai steps forward, between Kokei and the man. He grabs his overcoat by the lapel, shouting, “Hey!”
Kokei's pink eyes widen in fear as she sees the man enter into view, his gaze fixed on her. She then treads towards the right side of the room, remaining behind Ekitai.
Suddenly, a chunk of the carpeted floor beneath Kokei rises, slightly smaller than the elevation pad in Dana’s golden observatory, leaving a shallow marble divot in its place. The hidden elevation pad raises Kokei off the ground in silence and brings her up towards the wooden floor above.
As the pad carries her, she watches in horror as the man with gray irises and Ekitai lock gazes, for it appears they’re about to engage in combat. The booms in the distance still shake the house, as she couldn’t even imagine the damages done to her peaceful paradise. She had never expected such a situation to occur, and now that it was upon her, she couldn’t think clearly as the only thought in her mind was to escape.
Helpless in the situation, she can only observe before the pad brings her up to the wooden floor, leveling at the perfect altitude. Once brought up, she steps onto the second floor, and begins running down the hallway, enclosed by the narrow walls. Her head bounces from side to side as she breathes heavily, trying to quell herself from hyperventilation.
Her attention is caught when in front of her, far in front of the flooring of the second level, she watches as a blue transparent cable of light appears attached to the ceiling, and reeling from it emerges the Tempest, far off the ground. The cable seems attached to the back of his left shoulder, and while it doesn’t appear solid, it sufficiently carries him up high enough to be in her view.
Kokei watches in awe as the Tempest glides in the air, the site reflected through her pink lens. Abruptly, the man in the leather vest appears in the air, his fist striking the Tempest with unexplainable speed and altitude. The man’s fist drives into the Tempest’s face, causing his body to plummet down, as the assailant follows him to the depths below.
Kokei’s eyes shoot wider open in terror, and she comes to a halt before turning to her right, where there is a noticeable engraving of an arch-shaped door within the wooden wall. Standing in front of the engraving, the wall within the shape combusts into a cloud of smoke similar to the opening door, revealing the room within, which Kokei dashes into.
Racing inside, Kokei enters a dark, smaller room enclosed by whitish pink walls with a soft pink fur rug covering the floor. Along the far wall are white shelves elevated off the ground, with some shelves containing rows of golden trophies, and others with what appear to be figurine statues of humanoids, with some dawning bizarre attire such as overly dramatic dresses fixed in a flowing state and others dressed in casual formal attire with brown blazers and miniskirts.
Along the side walls are more shelves with more figurines, but also rows of what appear to be books, with some having soft leather covers and others being noticeably slimmer and only being composed of a paperlike composite. There are also posters against the wall, emanating a soft glow denoting illumination, as though holographic. Some posters feature a group of teenage girls dressed in similar casual formal attire as the figurines, standing in front of the steps to a wide, tortilla-colored building.
Once Kokei steps into the room, the doorway behind her shuts as the door reforms, enclosing the room completely. She continues forward, passing a long, curved white desk at the corner of her room, which hovers as a tabletop with shelves below housing bags of sorts, and in front of the desk is a pink leathery Executive-style chair that hovers legless.
Passing a white box attached to the wall with a sleek and slim body, she approaches the far side of the room, where there’s a platform hovering a couple feet off the ground with a thick white mattress, resembling a bed especially as there are several white and pink soft cushions likely being a pillow, although there’s no presence of a blanket. One of the white pillows is particularly long, about five feet in fact, along the wall that the King-sized bed rests against.
On the wall is also a wide, smoothened rectangular window that displays the view of the darkening cyan sky and silver city. Several buildings however exude colorful lights along their exteriors as the sunset draws ever closer to its conclusion.
As Kokei approaches the hovering bed, her white shoes seemingly vanish in a blue flash similar to Dana’s clothing, and she leaps onto the bed, which slightly lowers gently before bouncing back up to its standard altitude. Inside the dark room, she grabs the longer pillow, clutching tightly to it as the distant sounds of booms drum below her.
She shuts her eyes tightly as she pulls the pillow to her body, lowering her head as she sits in front of the window, cowering in one of the few havens left inside her sullied heaven.
Below her, down on the main floor in the gray room she left from, the drums of carnage rumble far louder, as the defender in the brown overcoat stares at the intruder in the black overcoat. Ekitai’s hand is still on his overcoat as he stares with a wide gaze, making no movements, as he remains stationary in front of the pair of couches.
Across from him, Agil’s cold lenses track coldly, his hands by his side as he too has not made sudden moves, having failed to catch his target before her escape.
The two men stare at one another as more booms rage in the distant rooms, with occasional grunts and yells. However, the two don’t chase nor swing, they just stand in silence, eyeing each other.
Shattering the silence, Agil indicates with a monotony, “I have no quarrel with you, unless you too are an ally of him. I doubt it though, you don’t look like a fighter. Please do not obstruct my path, and I’ll leave you be.”
Ekitai’s jaw partly opens, acknowledging his physical state, his sunken cheekbones, his unnaturally slim stature. He wasn’t muscular or tough skinned like the attackers, and it is clear now standing before one of them that he isn’t an appropriate combatant.
Nonetheless, his yellow eyes contract in focus as he explains, “She isn’t allied with him, she’s just an innocent civilian who had us over. She didn’t even know who he was.”
Agil lets out a soft huff through his nose, and he lowers his head. Surrounding his right wrist, the air begins to seemingly start vibrating, intensifying with a faintly gray hue. While not solid, a concentration of intense vibrations has manifested around his wrist like a bracelet, which resonates a soft hum to which Ekitai reacts with a fretful expression.
“Then she can tell me herself. Sorry but we can’t afford having more terrorists impacting our cause, he’s done enough as it is. If she’s with him, she must be eliminated,” utters Agil in a cold voice, lacking any exaggerated emotion, as he’s undoubtedly earnest.
Ekitai tsks, arguing with a furious perplexion, “Terrorists? She’s not a terrorist, and what do you mean impacting your cause? What has he even done to you anyways??”
Agil lets out a soft sigh, raising his head. His gray gaze lock onto Ekitai before cooly registering, “Huh, either you’re playing dumb or you seriously have no idea who you’ve been hanging around with. Well either way, please move aside. I was authorized to use lethal force for this mission. If you really aren’t with him, there’s no point making yourself a casualty.”
Stolen novel; please report.
Silence befalls the two of them as Ekitai doesn’t relay immediately, but instead stares, frozen. His hand stays on his overcoat as he stalks Agil, making no sound while loud bangs are still heard in the other areas of the house.
Agil stares back with calm, calculated expression, his arms staying by his side. The vibrating ring persists with a calm hum, yet seemingly on the edge of bursting at any given moment.
The two stand motionless, until Ekitai suddenly pulls at his overcoat, revealing his makeshift handgun with the exposed wiring around the barrel, contained in one of his inside pockets. He reaches for his weapon with his other hand, trying to move as quickly as possible with gritted teeth.
With a swift lift, Agil aims his right hand at Ekitai, and the vibrating ring suddenly propels forth, striking him in the shoulder like a bullet before Ekitai could grab his weapon. The strike throws Ekitai backwards with surprising power, picking up and thrashing his body over the couch. He lets out a pained cry as his body falls over the couch, out of Agil’s view.
In the far side of the house, the Artificer leaps backwards, her golden body dashing past the row of pink Snapdragon-esc flowers. Her body just barely dodges the sudden swing of an object, which comes to rest, revealing itself to be the glossy blue construct representing a sledgehammer, composed of the solidified air. Wielding it with both hands, Rodrick steps forward, attempting to swing it again, trying to bash his target. He misses his swing again, however the blunt end of the hammer collides into one of the flowers, knocking it backwards before it springs back up straight from the hovering white vase containing it.
The force of the swing however sends a cluster of pink petals flying out, flying between Rodrick and the Artificer.
As the pink petals fly past the faceless gold mask, rectangular compartments raise off her shoulders, as golden shoulder launchers are revealed with vents facing forward. Both vents flash green instantaneously upon exposure, and they fire two thick green beams of energy forward.
Rodrick’s brown eyes shoot wide open, and as the green beams travel towards him, the air in front of the blunt end of the sledgehammer solidifies, creating a wide glossy wall that hardens in an instant. The wall receives the green beams of energy before vanishing, revealing Rodrick charging forward, letting out a roar while swinging a shorter rod with a rectangular blunt end, resembling a mace. His opponent steps back to dodge the swing, however she accidentally trips on the table encased by the sofas, causing her to fall backwards with a confused “Huh?”
Distantly beside the two, a glowing blue cable flies up into the ceiling, and reeling from the cable is the man in the leather jacket, zipping forward with immaculate speed before he dashes forward midair with a burst of blue glowing energy. Another cable fires out of his pale hand, attaching onto the sofas lined up facing the table, reeling him towards it.
Just as he descends towards the sofas, Victor suddenly appears right behind the Tempest, his arm extended out in the followthrough of a punch. His sudden appearance looks instant, chasing the Tempest around the house.
Firing another cable onto the kitchen cabinets above the ground, the Tempest swings around and towards the central room, racing away from his pursuer. While his body glides through the opening between the upper and lower cabinets, he’s entrenched deeply within his thoughts, pondering the man chasing him, for he was unsure how he was even being pursued.
Having been observing the random flashes of appearances without a visible connecting path, the Tempest theorizes his opponent having the capability of disconnected spatial disposition, being able to teleport at any point in space at will. With the altitude he was appearing at as well, it would be impossible for him to move continuously at every point he appeared at without flight, which while was a potential other ability, didn’t feel likely.
As the Tempest drifts out of the kitchen and into the dining room, a cable fires out of his ankle and up to the ceiling. His body is then reeled upwards, causing him to hang upside down. Another cable is shot out of his thigh, attaching onto the floating chandelier, although it doesn’t seem affected by the pull. The second cable causes his body to spin around, moving his radiating blue goggles to face the kitchen to collect more samples.
Bearing witness, he watches as Victor suddenly reappears inside the kitchen, his fist driven into the tiled floor. With gritting teeth, Victor growls as he pulls his arm out and raises his head, eyeing the Tempest immediately with a furious glare. Once again, rather than having flown through the kitchen, he instantaneously appeared out of thin air, corroborating the Tempest’s theory.
Despite the additional research collected, the Tempest discerns himself to be in danger, when Victor pulls his arm back, as if preparing for another strike. A third cable propels off of the Tempest, specifically his right elbow. The other two vanish as his body is jerked past the chandelier, once again on the move.
As the Tempest’s body rotates to allow him to face forwards again, a sudden shattering sound cries behind him. Victor reappears right in front of the hovering chandelier, his fist driven into the fancy light. The powerful strike tosses the silver chandelier up and into the window as shards fly outward from the light source.
The chandelier’s warm yellow glow dies as the Tempest races forward, having witnessed the destruction for a sliver of a second before facing ahead. His body dashes downwards as an angled blue trail bursts behind him on his angles, causing him to plummet while also spinning his body upright.
Pairs of cables begin firing in succession from his hips at a low angle towards the ceiling, carrying his body forwards yet positioning his body low to the ground, so much so that his back lightly scrapes the floor with blue sparks flashing from his protective shield.
Approaching the long white table with pink flowers, another pair of cables is fired from his hips, albeit at a far steeper angle, raising his body up to narrowingly avoid the table. His body meticulously evades the pink flowers, as it’s thrown up into the air. His sights lay on the square of sofas ahead, an idea flashing in his mind.
A triad of cables fire off of the Tempest’s chest, striking the open center between the sofas, and a trail bursts behind him as his body zooms towards the sofas. A fraction of a second after he once more begins a descent, Victor appears in the air, his arm extended with his fist in the air precisely where the Tempest’s body just was, once again barely missing.
Victor tsks as he tracks the Tempest, stalking him as he approaches the center of the sofas. Victor grits his teeth and reels his arm back, preparing for another punch while delivering a preliminary roar. As his body glides in the air, he concentrates on the Tempest, who lands in the center and freezes momentarily.
In that moment, Victor is gifted an extraordinary opportunity with a generous window. His eyes widen for a moment as he encapsulates as large a peripheral image as he can of the environment, before then tightening his gaze onto his sole target. He then throws his punch forward, aiming his fist right at the Tempest before vanishing once more.
Landing between the sofas, the Tempest seems to lag, as he drags his stationary position for a dangerous fraction of a second. Leaning forwards with his arms spread beside him, he keeps his head straight as Victor vanishes in the air.
In the exact instant that Victor vanishes, the Tempest’s body suddenly rockets upwards, propelled by a thick blue burst that sends him to a generous altitude in the air. Right as he leaves the ground, Victor reappears in the center of the sofas, throwing his arm forwards in a followthrough of a missed thrash.
Behind him, the Tempest’s body rotates again, spinning him backwards in the air. His body glides in the air right behind Victor, who is immediately swamped in deep regret.
Peering at Victor’s back, the Tempest raises his right arm, making the same form of his hand with his thumb, pointer finger, and middle finger extended out and the rest of his hand in a fist. He aims his fingers at the back of Victor’s head whilst upside down, honing in on his window.
Leaning on his right foot and kicking off with his left, Victor spins his whole body around, clenching his fist as he readies another punch. He throws his arm forwards as a black light flashes in front of the Tempest’s fingers, another bolt being fired.
The black bolt ejects from the Tempest’s fingers and Victor vanishes in the exact same instant, and in the next, the bolt vanishes and Victor reappears in front of the Tempest, his fist driven into the Tempest’s chest. Victor savagely glares at the Tempest, finally having landed a punch, as he tsks through clenched teeth.
A thunderous boom ripples as the Tempest’s body soars towards the ceiling, and Victor completes the followthrough to his successful punch. Enduring the excruciating hit, the Tempest gasps loudly, both in immense agony, but at the same time in the reaction to a sudden revelation.
Across from him and on the ground, Rodrick swings his mace at the Artificer, advancing forward as the Artificer leaps backwards onto sofas. Rodrick grunts as he swings rather chaotically, raising his leg as the air beneath his feet begin to solidify into flat platforms, allowing him to take steps on air. Creating more platforms beneath his feet while allowing the ones he passes to vanish, he marches over the couch, maintaining pace with the Artificer.
Heaving exhaustedly from the constant action she was still battling to adapt to, the Artificer aims both of her hands at Rodrick, which transform into the flat, defibrillator pad-esc form, and fires an intense wide blast that throws her body backwards, using it as a source of mobility. At the same time, Rodrick flies backwards a few feet before the air behind him solidifies, acting as a barrier that abruptly halts the knockback.
Shaking his head to gain clarity, Rodrick notices the Artificer fall onto the couch ahead, and he begins sprinting on the air, creating more solid platforms to step on. The mace in his hand vanishes before he begins solidifying a new construct, as a longer rod begins to form, gripped by both hands. He raises his arms as he nears his opponent before leaping off the platform, and diving down at her. He roars as a wide, solid block forms at the end of the rod, creating a weapon in the shape of a warhammer.
Just after finishing another tool in his arsenal, he brings it down. In fact, only barely does the Artificer manage to evade the slam, jumping backwards as the hammer is brought down onto the couch, which causes it to crash into the ground.
As the Artificer lands on the ground and begins jogging backwards, Rodrick lands on the couch before leaping forwards in chase, leaving the couch that remains on the floor, unable to hover back up. Growling as he charges, Rodrick bellows, “Why did I have to get this person?!”
Bolting into the gray room, the Artificer’s hands reconfigure as her left hand reverts to her default hand shape, but her right hand morphs into a blunt cylinder similar to a battering ram. She moves her fingers as she turns around, hyperfocused on Rodrick, who enters the room with the warhammer in hand.
Unbeknownst to either of them, their path is planted between Agil and the couches Ekitai fell behind, as the Artificer runs past the man in the black overcoat. She turns around to face Rodrick before extending her left arm forth. Her fingers begin extending as tentacles, swarming Rodrick while the battering ram as her right arm begins to softly glow green. Her tentacles latch onto the warhammer’s pole, coiling around in a battle of control, jerking Rodrick forwards to dismantle his balance while reeling him in.
At the same time, from behind the couch, Ekitai pops up, wielding his handgun and taking aim at Agil after having made an adequate recovery from the sudden blast he suffered. He pulls the trigger as his face morphs a shocked expression to see the other two in front of him, for the golden tentacles were between him and his intended target.
The wires coiled around Ekitai’s barrel flash as sparks flickr, and a concentrated orange liquid fires out, illuminated as sparks jut out as though the liquid was electrified. The liquid travels forward, however rather than striking Agil, it impacts the golden tentacles of the Artificer, which causes them to immediately disintegrate.
Immediately puzzled, the Artificer turns towards the source of the random shot, and both her and Ekitai exchange glances. However, now free, Rodrick leaps forward and swings his hammer again, slamming it into his opponent and knocking her backwards with all his might.
Ekitai’s gaze widens in immediate dismay, as he leans forward and cries, “Are you-,” before he’s struck by a vibrational bolt, throwing his body backwards again.
Keeping his arms up, Agil begins marching forwards, having taken the opening of chaos to get another shot in. Now knowing Ekitai is still combative, he wastes no time. In front of his fingertips, he begins rapidly generating concentrated vibrations in the air in the shape of large bullets before firing the barrage above the couch.
On the other side of the couch, Ekitai kneels on the floor, his hand on his shoulder where he had been shot, groaning in pain. He pants in anguish, novice to receiving such direct physical trauma. After all the time recuperating his strength, his retaliation only damaged his ally, as he fired without even focusing on his target. He turns his head towards the general direction the Artificer would be, now anxious about the disruption he caused.
His panic is interrupted as more vibrational blasts are shot over him, however now at a downwards angle, indicating that the shooter was getting closer to the cover. His immediate reaction is to cower as he lowers himself, screaming in fear as the barrage flies over him.
With every second closing the gap, Ekitai halts his cries, raising his head to face the couch across from him, perceiving that there was another wall of cover he could use if he managed to move without getting shot. Desperate to get out of the claustrophobic situation, Ekitai frantically starts tapping on the screen on his handgun, making rapid swiping gestures to the left several times in convolution, and he hastily begins swiping to the right.
Without rest, Agil continues firing constant vibrational bolts as he inches closer to the couch, gradually lowering his arms to move his aim closer to where Ekitai would likely be cowering. He maintains a calm expression, his gray gaze still unbothered, for he finds no threat in the old, bony man who picked a fight he clearly can’t survive.
A few feet across from them, Rodrick grunts as he swings his warhammer at the Artificer, making wide yet slow attacks, all evaded. Her left hand having recovered, the Artificer leaps backwards in another evasion before then projecting her tentacles once again, wrapping them around the warhammer’s handle.
Only managing to react with widening eyes, Rodrick is immediately jerked forward, his sluggish movements having created a wide opening against him. As he’s pulled forwards, he watches as the Artificer pulls her right arm back before throwing the battering ram forwards, straight at him.
In a desperate attempt to protect himself, the warhammer completely vanishes, and the air between his left hand and his opponent solidifies. The battering ram flashes as it slams into the wall, marking its strike with an immense boom yet failing to connect to its intended target.
Crouching down, a rod solidifies in Rodrick’s right hand, which forms to become a mace, his lightest weapon which he finds best to use given how his sluggishness led to such vulnerabilities. The wall of solid air is released, and right as the Artificer is able to target her opponent, her legs are slammed by the mace’s end, causing her to lose balance and fall.
As Agil steps closer to the couch, Ekitai on the other side desperately swipes on his screen. The gap shrinks as Ekitai’s movements become more agitated, as the bolts begin firing on the floor between the two couches, inching closer and closer to their target.