Red lights flashed in the dark gray sky as meteorites rain down from above, plummeting all across the city in clusters in an apocalyptic image that seemed to spell the end for humanity. Red meteorites descended past the silver skyscrapers in such quantity as though it was raindrops falling on a field, yet on a cataclysmic scale as those very meteorites stood colossal in comparison to the insignificance of the droplets that did fall from the clouds.
Diving down from the sky amongst the red and watery streaks was the man in the blue suit, his arms by his side and his cape thrashing in the violent winds. His azure lenses radiated light as did the streaks of overwhelming energy flowing through his body like a network of rivers between the fields of blue fabrics tightly woven. His hands remained open, the frosty crystals on his knuckles pulsing softly as even not in use they were fed a steady potential from the man, preparing himself for anything as he remained aerodynamic in his drop.
As the man dropped with the rainfall, he glanced around the city with the open view he had above the silver towers, taking this time to acknowledge the state of disarray.
Tilting his head up to get a greater view, his whole perspective vision was filtered through a blue tint, but among the blued landscape were red blotches highlighted in contrast to the tint. The red patches all were noticeably on the ground where the roads were, as there were none on any of the buildings for as far as his eyes could see.
The filter seemed to also provide some extent of an x-ray as red blotches were visible through the body of buildings, although even they were on the ground. One of those red patches were in fact nearly right below the man, apparently over the plaza in front of his tower where the open space was which cleared blocks of towers from standing right below the one above all.
While the man glided down with his head swiveling to observe the findings, he speedily pondered to himself in seconds: “Hmm…interesting, seems that none of them struck any of the buildings, and their scale isn’t great enough to cause too much collateral on the ground beyond negligible craters. There should not be too many casualties if any especially given current evacuation proceedings; that’s a relief, and incredibly convenient. Too convenient, the statistical probability of their misses given the density of the city and the quantity of these projectiles falls far below reasonable possibility; this is simply impossible under the presumption of natural occurrences. No…this is calculated and intentful, and these patterns are reminiscent of…-.”
Redirecting his focus, the man lowered his head back to the plaza below, zooming in further at the distant ground. Among the red blotches in the blue world, green entities began appearing in sudden bulk, with a swarm in the red blotch in the plaza specifically. The green entities were small but many, moving in separate directions across the plaza as though they had a mind of their own..
“-an invasion.”
Still in freefall, the man was propelled by a stream of blue energy released off his body to push him downward, forming the streak of a comet as he accelerated at a pace greater than what gravity alone would grant. Now, haste was on his mind, as he dove with intent speed and relinquished the filter, returning the world to its natural hues.
Among the red streaks that dropped from the sky, the blue comet dove down with the greatest speed, racing towards the surface with blinding light in front of the silver tower.
With such immaculate pace, the comet swiftly dove past the rooftops of other silver superstructures, and continued down as its proximity with the ground dwindled rapidly.
Down on the black open plaza, large pockets of thick red mist danced above the craters left from the impact of the meteorites, as while they were not immense they still left visible damages to the infrastructure.
Above the surface plummeted the blue comet, striking the ground with a thunderous clap that released its own wave of blue mist throughout the plaza as excess energy dispersed in the open space in the hell-ridden city.
From above, the blue mist dissipated shortly after discharging, and with it the ominous red mist followed, revealing humanoid silhouettes in the darkness, and standing before them all was the silhouette from the impact left by the blue comet, which stood with a waving flag as a cape as it stared down on the horde.
Mist scattered to reveal the man in the blue suit standing in the plaza, his azureus lenses blazing as did the emblem on his chest.
Across the golden shoulder of the protector stood a brigade of Chinese men embellished in thin leather and lamellae which covered their shoulders and chest which were painted bright blue and red as they made their presences strong in the plaza. All of the men sat atop fierce horses in long skirts seated on carpeted saddles, placing them above their singular opposition.
In the front of the horde was a man on horseback who wore a ribbon around his neck, staring with stern eyes at the man in front. He had a long beard, carrying a notably traditional style as did the rest of the brigade, for all of them stood entirely out of place with traditional wear inside the silver city with flying pods.
Leading the group, the man at the front with the ribbon imposed with a commanding voice, “Dài wǒ qù dùnpái.”
Further riveted by the use of foreign language especially on this world in particular, the man in the blue suit continued to note every abnormality about this group as he interpreted the language spoken to be Chinese and the exact demand given to him from the invader to be: ‘Take me to the shield.’
More questions flooded into the man’s head, as he immediately recognized the name, although he didn’t understand the association nor the order itself. After taking a few seconds to contemplate his options, he found himself with only one that was usable.
He responded with a steely voice amplified in volume, “Wǒ bù zhīdào tāmen xiànzài zài nǎlǐ,” mitigating a potential communication barrier to story, ‘I do not know where they are now.’
A few of the men on horseback moved backwards from the response and murmured amongst themselves, and as they turned around it was revealed to the man in the blue suit that many had sheathes on their hips and others had bows on their back, for they were armed, but with incredibly outdated weaponry.
As more men moved, shields and crossbows were revealed, further making it clear that they could be a threat albeit a perplexing one due to the supposed inadequacy of their arsenal to a man whose abilities trumped the vast population of superhumans.
In front of the bickering men, the leader in the ribbon declared heavily, “Ránhòu wǒmen jiāng shāohuǐ shìjiè, zhídào tāmen bèi jiēlù.”
Those words would translate to: ‘Then we will burn the world until they are revealed.’
Immediately after, the leader faced the men behind him and pointed his arm at the streets beyond the plaza, turning their attention to the civilized world ahead. In a shout he then commanded, “Sōusuǒ shìjiè, shāo diào nǐ bìxū de dōngxī, bìng shěnwèn rènhé qítā jūmín. Wǒmen jiāng xiāomiè wǒmen de dírén bìng zhēngfú shìjiè..”
At once all of the men began moving backwards as the horses, without reins, began walking the soldiers away from the plaza and towards the directed areas. The men began drawing swords from their sheathes and bows from their backs as they followed the given order: ‘Search the world, burn what you must, and interrogate any other inhabitants. We will destroy our enemies and conquer the world.’
As the brigade began to move out on their mission, an immense wave of blue flames raced past them from behind, not affecting them but continuing to crawl to the very ends of the plaza. They reached the borders of the plaza before then changing course and moving exclusively upwards, rising the height of at least three times the height of a man. The flames then promptly morphed into a gray wall composed of bricks that surrounded the plaza with indentations at the top, boxing in the brigade from escape.
Stopping in their tracks after being met by the enclosure, the men on horseback began turning around towards the direction the flames came from as the leader turned his head and lowered his arm in bewilderment. All of the soldiers moved their gazes on one entity, the man in the blue suit who stood in his place, staring right up at them with blazing eyes.
In a mighty voice of a man beyond comprehension, distorted and deepened to reflect the inhuman strengths he wielded, the man in the blue suit proclaimed, “Wǒ de míngzì shì Meditat, Wǒ shì zhège shìjiè de bǎohù zhě. Zài wǒ de jiāndū xià nǐ bù huì shānghài tā.” He placed one his right foot forwards, and lifted both of his arms into a boxing stance, having stated that: ‘My name is Meditat, and I am the protector of this world. You won't hurt it under my supervision.’
Leading the unit, the leader in the ribbon unsheathed a sword by his side, and raised it in the air. He then waged, “Ránhòu yǒnggǎn de sǐqù, Med-it-dot,” and his horse began charging at Meditat, taking on the one opposer.
As the leader charged at Meditat, his opponent extended his left arm at the leader, and projected a blue cable out of his hand. The cable’s anchor attached itself to the leader’s chest, and before he could react, Meditat yanked his left arm back, causing the leader’s body to fly off the horse and towards him at full force while Meditat reeled his right arm back with a closed fist before then throwing it forwards to contact his crystalized fist with the leader’s face in one swift action, causing a frosty flash of light to emerge on contact as a sound similar to ice cracking followed the punch to which the leader’s limp body continued flying past Meditat who then released the cable to allow the body to land on the ground, defeated seamlessly.
Even then the horse continued to charge at Meditat as though it too was a soldier, to which Meditat leaped up with a blue boost that brought up over the horse, evading its charge gracefully after having easily subdued the leader.
However, that was only one man, as all of the other soldiers began riding their horses towards the wall to make distance from Meditat, calling and shouting to each other as they were now on their own without the leader. Several men drew their crossbows and aimed it at Meditat in the air before pulling the trigger to retaliate.
As they did, the chambers of the crossbows began flashing purple with a strange hum, but what was more strange was that repeated barrages of arrows flew at Meditat, as each man repeatedly pressed the trigger to which they repeatedly fired arrows even though their crossbows had no clear mechanisms for automatically loading arrows like a modern rifle.
Rains of arrows soared in the air with sharp metal tips, each of which had the symbol ‘刺’ written on the side in a font that extraordinarily emitted an orange glow despite having a traditional build that seemed to be made of simple material with no greater technologies.
Bursting in front of Meditat was a wall of flames that reached to the ground before hardening into a thick dark silver barricade. The sturdy wall was more than strong enough to block any traditional arrows and being bulletproof, even so far as withstanding lasers.
Perceiving his events in immense speeds, Meditat however noticed the metal standing between him and the enemies to be bending towards him, evident of penetration occuring at a split second. An orange shine pierced through the widening aperture in the wall as Meditat’s body was thrown upwards in a blue burst, and in a rapid instinctual move Meditat climbed over the wall as the volley of arrows flew straight through the barricade and through where he had hovered just a second ago.
Shocked at the futility of what was thought to be an impenetrable barrier, Meditat found himself finding difficulty in defense as more arrows flew at him before he relinquished the barrier in blue flames that then dispersed. Knowing that blocking wouldn’t be a solid option until deriving a greater alternative as the shield generators wouldn’t act nearly fast enough, Meditat instead chose evasion as he began boosting around the plaza airborne, trying to use speed to make himself a difficult target.
Bursts of flames shot out of Meditat’s body all across the plaza, generating poles which were then used as points for him to anchor to as he started swinging and weaving past the soldiers to make his patterns more complex while he observed his opponents in deep contemplation.
Upon quick reconnaissance, another blue tint was placed over Meditat’s lenses, although while he kept his eyes on the crossbows there weren’t any unique colorations in them as what he sought was not there. After disengaging the filter, he was left with befuddling information was the only distinguishable component of the crossbow to differentiate it from a standard traditional single-fire crossbow was was the symbol ‘淼’ etched on the side of the crossbows’ barrel in a purple glow.
Yet there was no indication of advanced technology, no indication of nanotechnological mechanisms enlarging stored arrows nor teleportation instruments summoning ammunition. The crossbows were genuinely built standard in a way that would only be found from incredibly ancient museums, entirely obsolete in this day and age, and yet they were putting up a solid fight against a man who could create anything with a thought.
In the acknowledgement that he was the sole target of the entire force in the plaza, Meditat devised a plan to weaponize his own dire situation as he understood that flinging himself around would eventually retire its effectiveness. Without diverging from his evasive tactics as he continued swinging around the plaza, he began blasting blue flames onto the ground, which reshaped into a large device with four mechanical legs attached to a circular base with a silver substantial instrument connected to it by a swivel which had a massive barrel, as the overall machine resembled a turret. Each of the turrets were aimed at the soldiers firing crossbows, and they began autonomously firing blue energy bolts back.
As Meditat weaved around the plaza, several turrets were deployed and returned barrages on the crossbow men on horseback. Surprisingly the men managed to withstand a great quantity of shots from the rapidly firing turrets as their seemingly weak armor absorbed a great deal of fire, although some staggered and fell off their horses from the overwhelming fire.
Farther back by the wall opposite from the tower, a mass of soldiers congregated, and several of them carried rectangular shields with rounded tops which seemed to be made of copper. The shielded men stood on foot in front of the rest, holding their shields out in front which had the symbol ‘站’ embedded on the center in a green light.
As all the men lined their shields, all of the shields began projecting a peculiar translucent green wall together which grew taller than the men on horseback, creating a barrier that covered the entire group behind. The shielders remained in place as the men behind them drew their bows, and beside them the men who had been firing their crossbows managed to reach the end where the congregation were to take shelter behind the green wall.
Each of the turrets turned around as their heads swiveled, aiming at all of the soldiers now behind the shield wall. The turrets then resumed firing blue bolts, however they all were absorbed into the green wall, protecting the men behind as none of the bolts even grazed them.
Instead, men began aiming their crossbows and drawing their bows before unloading bombardments of arrows onto the turrets, each of which pierced the turret and quickly filled them with holes, dismantling them in seconds.
After all of the turrets were destroyed, they burst into flames as did the poles around the plaza, and Meditat landed back on the center of the plaza in realization that the opponents’ had switched their tactics. He watched as all of the soldiers armed with bows and crossbows moved their aim onto him, as he was no longer able to effectively retaliate. Now, he was targeted by the large remainder of the brigade, unable to strike back while they were ready to take him on.
Coevolution in rapid motion, Meditat too needed to formulate a new strategy, as now the regiment was taking on a defensive tactic, one that would be too fortified to fall to Meditat’s own defensive thorns, as now it would take a far greater force to bring it down. No longer was Meditat able to hide behind a defensive mindset, as it was necessary to take on a more direct approach if he wanted to drive the invaders out.
Face to face with the regiment, Meditat began sprinting at the crowd in a straight dash. His entire body breached blue flames, with flames extending off his limbs as his body was raised off the ground several feet. His entire body is wrapped around by a thick current of wrapped flames as the edge of the fires coming off his limbs shaped into fists and feet.
Men with bows fired arrows at Meditat in a barrage, attempting to stop him before he got too close. Those arrows are promptly dodged simultaneously as the blue flames transfigured into a mech built with the same white casing as the titan, although far smaller as it was only about ten feet tall. The mech also didn’t resemble a humanoid as accurately as it lacked a head, and the torso was far wider with an azureus blue visor over curved where the chest would be.
With larger legs, the mech ran faster than Meditat did on foot, swinging its arms with frosty crystal rings like bracelets as well as crystallic fragments on his fingers. It dodged another flurry of arrows, as its increased mobility now allowed it to easily evade attacks as it reached closer towards the shooters.
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While the men firing continued relentlessly, one of them bellowed, “Wǒmen xūyào dāopiàn!” Following the request that ‘We need blades’, all of the horses carrying the other men who were armed with non-projectile weapons began running around the shield’s projected wall, and charged at the mech with perfect obedience.
Several of the men in front drew swords as they approached the mech, and began slashing at it whilst running past like a joust. Behind them, other men pulled back the arms gripping spears, and on side of the metal spears’ tips was the symbol ‘刺’ written in the orange luminescence.
Offensive might against offensive might, the mech lifted its arms and parried the slashes with the crystallic rings which absorbed the impact. It managed to backhand slam one of the last horses in the joust, causing it to cry and fly off to the side from the overwhelming force.
Continuing its charge, the mech pushed forwards, only for it to then be staggered by two spears to the shoulders, which pierced straight through the joints, causing both arms to fall limp. Before it could resume its chase, the soldiers who slashed it prior returned from the back, crying out as they prepared to make an attack from behind.
Marooned in the center of an omnidirectional strike, there was no other option but for the mech to stand in place, and allow itself to self-detonate, discharging in a blue explosion that shot fragments in all directions at horses and soldiers. Multiple horses collapsed as in the center of the explosion leaped Meditat high up in the air, abandoning his machine as he crippled the retaliation, now forcing them on foot.
He extended both arms outward as blue blazes effused off each of his hands before being held as a short hilt in the center of a disk constituted of blue energy. Protruding from each disk were two blue energy blades, initially on opposite ends of the hilt.
Boosting down to avoid another flurry of spears, Meditat landed on the ground before being immediately met by swings from surrounding swordsmen, which he parried with the blue blades in his hands. Concurrently men from behind also swung their swords as he was once more surrounded, to which the opposite blades suddenly rotated from a pivot on the disk and slid up the disk, averting the swords.
Caught in the eye of a deadly storm, Meditat spun as his blades rotated again, slashing through two of the swordsmen and causing their bodies to collapse. He then held one arm out and the other back before catching two more swordsmen in a clash, as there was no shortage of combatants for him. He pushed them off and made swings of his own while the blades rolled around the disk and pivoted to clash with others on command, keeping up with multiple opponents simultaneously.
While several soldiers were now down for the count, the vast majority were still standing, as Meditat was still being piled up by swordsmen from all angles. He dodged and ducked, slashing through more as he steadily defeated the intimate enemies, his moves swift and graceful indicative of arduous training over many years.
His blades danced around the disks to parry more blows, as even though he was confined on foot he was still adequately mobile.
As Meditat spun around once again to deal with the remaining handful of swordsmen, his gaze was immediately caught by an arrow speeding right for his forehead which he had failed to anticipate. Imprisoned in the heap of soldiers, Meditat was unable to move in time, knowingly so, as the arrow was just a foot from his head, brandished with the orange ‘刺’ symbol carried in the same arrows that pierced his wall.
It felt like time was stretched out in an instant as Meditat was fixated on the arrow, his perception contracting the world’s pace as to him the drops of rain falling from the sky slowed to a halt, countless levitating in the air. His lenses remained on the sharp tip of the arrow, unable to move in time to evade, lacking time to manifest a solution. Cornered by swordsmen with raging expressions carrying raised blades from behind and the sole arrow flying straight from in front, Meditat was pledged the only option he had left, to let himself fall for his home.
It was his responsibility anyways, his mission, his vow. This was what he signed up for all those years ago. From the first year he knew the lethality this path would bring, and he was always reminded that the split path he chose would be a dangerous one. He knew exactly what he was getting himself into, and he knew exactly what the most likely finale of it would be.
It was inevitable.
Relinquishing his perception to dilate back and succumb to his demise, the rain drops proceeded to storm down on Meditat. Behind him stood no one, and in front of him flew no projectile, as instead he stood entirely free in the open.
In the time of a flash, the dire state Meditat was in had shifted extensively, as he now found himself standing around the fallen bodies of the swordsmen who were just swinging at him. In front of his feet he found the arrow that was soaring straight into his skull, now plunged straight into the black ground with its tail up
He raised his head to find that in front of him, the men with spears were on the ground, limp, their spears beside their hands as their eyes were closed. In fact, all of the men who had charged at him past the shields were subdued on the floor in an instant, seemingly inexplicably, as for a moment they were raging with strength about to overcome him. But in a single instant, they were all bested, following a period of silence from the deafening chaos.
Bringing his head all the way up straight, Meditat’s gaze dragged to the end of the trail of bodies, to which there was a single one standing, its foot leaning off the ground with a sole gold as well as its ankle on the black shoes with a sky blue strip over where the laces would be.
The being’s legs were adorned in a white suit intimately resembling a race suit with slim black padding on the kneecaps as well as sky blue pads on the thighs and back of the shins. The sides of the body were also padded sky blue up to the elbows, with black pads on the ribs and around the elbows. On the top of its forearms were black gauntlets each with a sky blue triangular component on each side by the bottom, and encasing the hands were black gloves with rubber gripping around the palm and fingers.
The back of the being’s head was covered in a sky blue helmet with a black pad on the back of the skull with several strips that protruded up to the crown of the head as well as black earpieces connected by a strip to the black pad as well as another piece below the ear.
As the being maintained its pose, the rain stopped falling, the sound of showers silencing. In following, the sky brightened indicative of the gray clouds dissipating, passing cyan rays down onto the being’s body as the world began to glow once again. More sun rays shined down on the plaza, for the storm was wrapping up.
In the lunged stance as though prepared to sprint with raised arms and open hands, the being stood in front of Meditat over the pile of bodies, facing the remaining men behind the shield who had terrified expressions on their face as they were all astonished with a powerful sense of dread.
Nonchalantly the being reeled its extended foot back and stood up straight, loosening its dramatic pose and rolling its shoulders. It then turned around to face Meditat, revealing a large emblem on the center of its chest which resembled the imaging of a tachyon, with the particles being gold and the cone covering it which curved over the long particle being sky blue, and below the emblem was a long black lining resembling a zipper that reaches to the waist.
On the forehead of the helmet is the same emblem, although much smaller in size to fit. Also covering the front of the being’s face was the helmet which now clearly resembled a motorcycle helmet albeit with a slim black visor and the lower half of the face was colored white with gray lines and a black ventilation strip angled on each cheek. A black piece was fitted on the collarbone and around the neck with sky blue triangular decals on each side.
In the continued moment of silence, the being stared at Meditat who looked back at him, as for a moment there was peace and tranquility in the plaza.
That was until one of the men behind the shield wall cried out, “Shì tā! Huǒ!”, to which all the remaining men aimed their crossbows and bows at the two. Taking the pronounced order, ‘It’s him! Fire!,’ they then all fire a volley of arrows at the two through the wall, shattering the silence in an attempt to rebound from the sudden shift in tide.
Meditat took a step back and snapped his attention back to the soldiers he nearly allowed himself to forget. He raised his arm on instinct as he was once again caught off guard, his mind blanked resulting in inability to conjure a defense as all his instincts could come up with was shielding his face with his arm which would do little good in retrospect.
As the mass bombardment flew towards the two, the air in front of Meditat suddenly began fluctuating with a purple hue in the shape of a humanoid, to which immediately a being appeared over the fluctuation apparently out of nowhere. The new being whose body was black with purple streaks, standing before Meditat protectively facing the arrows, calmly waved its right arm diagonally.
Concurrently a massive purple streak of violent vibrations appeared in the air in the same motion as the wave in front of the individual in the race suit, and all of the arrows flew into the streak before crumbling into wooden chips and metal fragments on the ground. The entire hail of arrows became immediately dismantled from the single streak, leaving a pile of wooden dust and metal shards in front of the man in white.
As the men behind the wall began bickering in rising tension, the black being turned around to face Meditat, dressed in a black slim suit and a dark purple hood. Its body was covered in brighter purple curvy streaks, as its relatively simplistic mask had two vertical curvy streaks over where its eyes would be, which continued down its neck to the hood. Below the hood, the two streaks widened as they curved over the chest inward and then outward around the back before wrapping around the waist as a belt, which created a shape resembling a chalice.
Two other streaks emerged from the purple hood, each wrapping around the upper arm once before then tightly coiling around the forearm five times before curving up from the wrist and over the back of the palm.
Around its thighs were two independent streaks placed like thigh buckles, and covering its kneecap was a far wider streak. Finally from the back of each knee, a streak emerged and curved down the knee to the inner heel of the shoe, which is the same shade of black as the rest of the suit, before wrapping over the top of the foot onto the outer toes.
While still in disarray from the sudden appearances, Meditat then turned to notice a third being gliding past him from behind his left. He glanced at the being to find that rather than being fully covered, it was more revealed to be a woman who appeared to be in her middle ages although in athletic condition, as her face and arms were completely exposed. Running smoothly down behind the head was long brown hair that extended down her back, embellishing the body was a forest green sleeveless dress with a wide V-neck and a tall collar of the same color that came down to the top of her chest. She was adorned in dark green thigh stockings with solid diamond-shaped green plates on the center at the top of each stockings and darker green high heels.
Around her waist were long white flags with sharp tips that reached down her knees, functioning as a skirt. Around her neck was a nearly black dark green collar with a bright green gem in the center.
Her gold mint green eyes radiated gently as the woman hovered past Meditat, gliding towards the shielded soldiers as her hair danced in the breeze. She raised her open hand up as she approached the wall and then calmly squeezed her hand shut.
Right as she closed her hand, cracks crawled all over the copper shields raised by the men, covering it in seconds. They then subsequently crumbled into minute copper fragments, and in the effortless motion the translucent wall summoned by the shields faded and vanished, leaving all of the men unguarded as they staggered backwards by the wall, murmuring in despair and raising their bows up at the woman.
What the remaining soldiers did not notice at first however was a being that stood atop the brick wall they were hiding against with one foot out in front between the gap. The individual’s face exuded a red glow of a cross-shaped visor stretched on the white mask reminiscent of a crusader helmet with trapezoidal linings down both sides over the dark gray helmet with darker ridges over the ear and back of the head.
Over the neck and atop the shoulders of the body was a dark gray scaly piece similar to chainmail yet diamond-shaped, and slung over the broad shoulders was a dark brown bandolier with multiple silver buckles and badges with red illuminated dots. The bandolier sat over the body covered in a crimson red armored suit with sharp black ridges over the defined muscles, creating rigid plates over the shoulders and a triangular one over the chest with black pieces over the ribs.
Above the abdomen was a black strip with two red pieces below the breasts, and over the abdomen was black armor with downward angled duvets and red segments around the hips. Over the waist was a black belt with an upside down trapezoidal red illuminated strip with two smaller parallelogram-shaped ones below and to the side.
The thighs are garnished with hexagonal crimson pads albeit with elongated vertical sides with black chines protruding off each vertice around the thighs, and kneehigh tactical boots are worn with crimson buckles around the shins and a small dagger-sized sheath on the side of the right leg.
Standing with gently radiating crimson soles, the being extended both arms, its upper arms were encased in silver with black sticks vertically attached to the right upper arm and four black straps wrapped around the left upper arm with two vertical separations on each side top create a clear rectangular grid with one slot filled by a red light on the side of the arm in the same hexagonal shape as the crimson pads.
Encasing the forearms are noticeably larger dark gray gauntlets with apertures above and below the wrist seemingly as barrels and a barrel jut out slightly on each side with a triangular barrel. On the top of each gauntlet was a crimson pad with the hexagonal shape although longer vertical sides to give it a shape of a fragment, with duvets extending from each vertice as well as the overall armor was composed of bulkier plating in general. Heavy gloves were worn over the hands, closed in tight grips as the being stood over the terrified remains of the invasion.
One step forward, and the being stepped off of the wall, dropping down with extended arms as each of his boots landed on a different horse behind two archeres. Both horses neighed in pain, to which both archeres turned around to check what had caused it, only to be grabbed by the throats and thrown off of the horses by the being, specifically thrown towards their fellow archers, causing four to collapse at once.
From the apertures on top of the wrists, the being then fired red bolts down at the soldiers on the ground as well as their horses before raining more fire on the remaining men and horses, blasting them before they could react as it swiftly subdued most of the archeres until two remained.
Using the openings on the bottom of the wrists now, they fired physical gray cables at each of the archeres, which anchored onto them through sharp tips. From a strong pull of each arm, the being yanked both archeres towards its direction, only for both of their heads to collide together. They both groaned in pain before each receiving a red shot, causing them both to fall to the ground. He then fired bolts on the far two horses, and then aimed his gauntlets right below his feet before firing one more from each.
Both of the final horses collapsed forward, bringing the being down to the ground as it rode their backs. It then stepped off the defeated horses, and approached the rest of the group as the entire brigade had been defeated swiftly, leaving not one body standing. Its hands remained by its side as the other four turned to face him, standing over the black battlefield.
Its voice resembling a male yet being distorted in such a manner that came off as demonic in a sense due to its heavy deepness and raspiness, the being declared, “That should be the last of the invasion, that was handled well. Good work everybody.”
He continued forward and turned his gaze to Meditat in particular before greeting, “Ah Meditat, I guess I should’ve expected you to be here.”
Nodding his head in acceptance to the address, Meditat admitted “I likely should’ve anticipated you too, Furcifer.” He then waved his hand, and the tall brick walls bordering the plaza regressed into blue flames before evaporating, opening the space up to the entire city.
As the walls came down, it was revealed that there were no more falling meteorites, and the sky was blue once again with sunlight passing through without hindrance. The city was calm once more, protected and saved to live another day.
Blue flames fizzled out as Meditat observed the city slowly, his world dawning another blue tint temporarily before being relinquished as he made a short scan. He noted, “Seems that there aren’t any more conscious signatures of them, thanks for covering me.”
Standing in front of Meditat, the being in the race suit waved its hand before speaking in an unmodulated voice of an adult male with a higher pitch and ecstatic tone, “No hidge, it was easy for me anyways. I could’ve probably taken them all out but of course I can’t steal too much of the spotlight, you know.”
Stepping from behind the man, the woman in the green dress warmly smiled at Meditat with a tilted head and spoke with a tender, mature, almost maternal feminine tone, “Hello Meditat, glad to see you again, it’s been too long!”
She then stood beside the man in the race suit and flicked the side of the man’s head before scolding in an enraged, raised voice, “You almost got shot more times than I can count, Tachyon. You should be thinking as fast as you run your mouth.”
“Oww, Intrepid’s bullying me again!” exclaimed the man in the race suit in pain instantly had his hand on his head to rub the minimal pain, the sudden motion made in a sky blue blur.
Ignoring the bickering after a quick glance, the being in the black and purple suit turned to Meditat before speaking in a soft, almost shy voice of an adult female kept rather quiet over the complaining, as she inquired, “Are you okay? Sorry we were late, I would’ve come sooner if we knew you were here dealing with them all-.”
Overwhelmed from all the muddled conversations, Meditat honed his attention on the concerned woman and shook his head casually before gently assuring, “Don’t worry, I would’ve been fine anyways, just had a pretty busy morning so I was letting myself slack off. Thank you for saving me though, Eidolon.”
He then turned to Furchifer, the man in the crimson armor, before imploring “Who were those men, they were using some odd technology I wasn’t able to properly register. They tried getting me to take them to you; I would’ve saved the city some trouble if I hadn’t lied about not knowing but it would be nice to get some justification for why this all happened to begin with.”
“Alchemy,” answered Furcifer first, stepping towards Meditat. He then followed up, “It’s complicated, but they’ve been enemies of ours for a little bit now. I see that they’re getting close to discovering our base, I didn’t realize they were seeking us out now. Regardless, it’s a pressing matter we need to tend to quickly, more than I had foreseen.”
“Correct, it is a pressing matter, they were about to tear the city down and hurt the people here! From the vague details I know, you find yourself in some interesting situations, but if this one puts these people at risk then I cannot simply ignore it. If there’s a chance that they’ll return, no matter how small that chance is I must see to the end of this,” declared Meditat in a bold voice, his fists clenching intensely as his cape glided in the wind.
Rolling his head to face Meditat, Tachyon rapidly clapped his hands twice in a blue blur, seeming to be able to move at phenomenal speeds faster than the human eye could register. In an excited voice he invoked, “You mean we’re doing another Meditat crossover?!”
A gentle sigh crawled out of Meditat as he turned to face Tachyon and clarified composedly, “If possible, just until this threat is dealt with. Versepolis is my home; it’s my life’s vow to protect it, and if you already know them, then it would be highly beneficial to have your expertise.”
“So it’s another The Shield ‘X’ Meditat crossover! Exgsta!” exclaimed Tachyon gleefully while Meditat moved his gaze back to Furcifer and enjoined, “I will only ask for your aid for this mission alone, but I understand if there is a problem with that. I intend to hunt down the core of these invaders either way, I wasn’t really intending to ask for help but we seem to be here anyways.”
Both the man in red and blue stared at one another for a few seconds, to which the man in red proclaimed, “We are always open to working with you, Meditat, no need to ask so formally. So very well, but if I may, we should return back to base. We must act quickly, unfortunately we may need to act within the day if we are to truly prevent a second coming.”
Meditat stretched his arms over his head and let out a yawn, knowing that his day had only just begun. Standing in front of the next set of stairs in the mountainous mission before him, he acknowledged, “I’ve had busier days, I’ll be fine. You’re right, haste is key.”
“Let’s go.”