by Vee Bosse
“Shit...my elemental abilities!” Jayce laughed at Christian as blood spewed from his mouth, falling to the ground in defeat.
“Christian!! Shit!!” Andrea yelled, throwing herself directly at Jayce as he stood over their now-helpless friend. “Let’s see how you nullify a psychic attack! Psych Punch!!” Jayce’s speed was no match for Andrea though, as he was easily able to step to the side of her crushing blow.
“You are fodder, step down. Gack!!” Jayce was ready to strike his next opponent down when he felt death itself jolt his heart.
“You never were able to strike me with your sword and seal my aura...you’ve allowed to yourself to become distracted in the face of this horrible ability of mine. I’m sorry, even if you are a monster.” Jayce fell backwards to land on the grass next to a wounded Christian, yet the four remaining rebels all noticed that Jayce was able to stab himself with his sword just before he hit the ground in death.
“Did we get him? Is it over?” Winkle asked, looking concerned at their friend and foe that had fallen in silence.
“Ack!! Ahhh!!!” Westin suddenly screamed in agony, as they all watched in horror as his Third Eye of Death literally exploded, leaving nothing but Westin’s normal forehead.
“My heart has recovered.” Westin had seemingly been sealed when Jayce stabbed himself in the heart. Jayce slowly returned to his feet: “I told you all before...my Nullification is absolute and without bounds. By stabbing my own heart with Westin’s death energy consuming it, it became the equivalent of my own sword cutting Westin’s eye to shreds. Your death energy...is no more.”
As Jayce had retracted the sword from his chest, his Nullification ability had completely and instantly healed him through the cancelling out of Westin’s power. “Earlier than you wanted, but you got your wish...eh, Westin??” The former wielder of death energy gritted his teeth in frustration, as their opponent taunted them with a daring smile. “All of you, I will now give you one last chance before I end this fight. This is it, and there will be no turning back after you give me your answers.”
They all looked at each other, as Jayce arrogantly stepped over a dying Christian. “You will either join with me as the part of the New Shadow Project, or I will slaughter you all, right now. Make your choice.” Jayce had made it clear, and hatred began to consume the rebels’ hearts. Yet at the same time, they felt frustrated that many of their best techniques has been instantly nullified by their oppressor’s fierce ability. They glanced at each other, as Haynes desperately racked his brain to come up with some sort of plan.
“You guys, we,” Haynes stopped himself, as all four of them witnessed an elemental staff begin to rotate and form in front of Christian, just like it had when Dylan was about to kill them all.
“That’s...just like before,” Winkle admitted, as they witnessed energy suddenly amass from the elements into Christian’s defeated form. Jayce was suddenly feeling annoyed in disbelief that Christian would somehow be able to bend the elements after he had sealed his ability.
“You...how is this happening!? The staff...I’m striking it down, for good!” Jayce had leapt forward with his impressive speed at the reforming elemental staff, as Westin fell to his knees in weakness; the loss of his Third Eye had drained his body to the point of collapse. Andrea shot Psych Bullets in Jayce’s direction, yet he dodged them with perfected ease on his way to cut down Christian’s new staff.
“Winkle! We have to buy Christian some time to get his abilities back, we might be finished if we don’t!!” Haynes yelled at Winkle, as she took out her dragon stones in a hurry. Yet, Haynes knew that another second would have been too late, and he quickly stabbed himself with Portfold to activate his teleportation technique. Jayce found himself cut off by the dimensional sword, as they entered a deadlock in front of a lifeless Christian.
“I’ll put my life on the line to stop you! Dimensional,” Haynes knew that most any technique of theirs would easily be sealed off from Jayce’s ability, yet that didn’t stop him from putting himself on the line to buy his friends some time. His dimensional abilities that he could summon from a distance had been sealed, yet the abilities that resided directly in Portfold had not. Haynes was able to engulf his opponent with a dimensional aura, when Jayce repeated the same action that had routed Christian; Haynes was slashed through after his Portfold had been nullified, and shattered into nothing.
“I’m leaving this battle...in your hands...guys.” Haynes had passed the torch to Winkle, Andrea, and Westin while Christian’s powers reformed, yet Westin began to realize that his death ability had been completely destroyed as the red streak in his hair began to vanish, turning white. Andrea was no longer able to use her Psych Energy abroad, relegated to using it only as projectiles. Jayce dodged more of her volleys, deciding that he would take her out before eliminating Christian’s staff.
“You...are so damned annoying!” Andrea stood no chance of dodging his sword, suddenly feeling her psych powers flash away into nothing.
“Sh...Shit!” There were now two rebels that had fallen to the grass, wounded and nullified. Westin began to tremble furiously on his knees, mortified by the sight of his friends falling in front of him.
“Dragons, it’s time.” Winklehad summoned them all, as Jayce suddenly turned her way.Carlisle, Icemonger, Nimbus, Carmichael, and Sapheda were the five dragons that now flew high above their summoner, as their all-powerful opponent playfully smiled at them from below. “There they are...I honestly did want to see them. Terribly amazing,” Jayce said, while Winkle allowed a focused smile to come over her face.
“I wonder how you will nullify purely physical attacks?” Winkle asked in curiosity, waiting to see what Jayce would do against her majestic and incredible dragons. “Dragons, this asshole in front of you...is your breakfast!” Jayce couldn’t be happier to engage the dragons, yet he leaped forward with his incredible speed to cut through their beloved summoner with a fury.
“Can you all really protect your master!?” Jayce was frighteningly fast, yet he found himself literally tossed into the air helplessly as a concentrated column of wind blew him away from Winkle. Carlisle had summoned the downburst below almost instantly, fully proving himself capable of stopping anyone who threatened Winkle’s life. These dragons meant business, and as Jayce spun around in midair with his sword, he displayed an amazing gravity leaping ability by using the wind itself to leap forward; he poised his Nullifying Sword to physically cut the dragons down indefinitely.
“Nothing will stop me from achieving my ambition! Not even five dragons!” An unexpected streak of cruelty came on his face in his advance, yet he found himself suddenly frozen in a massive wave of ice, courtesy of Icemonger. Even with his incredible speed in midair, he wasn’t able to dodge this ice due to its massive size. Nimbus added to Jayce’s frozen woes, as a massive bolt of lightning struck through the ice sheet to force Jayce all the way to the ground in fallen humiliation.
“That...was a frightening combo,” Jayce said, showing a carefree smile as he gazed into the clear blue sky above. “My Nullification Sword is able to absorb physical attacks and damage itself, yet that was quite a bit of damage to absorb. My sword...is a bit tired.” Winkle scoffed at his suddenly lackadaisical attitude.
“Are you playing dead, because that look suits you! My dragons of night and day!! Finish him!!” Carmichael summoned his dark energy, while Sapheda summoned her power of light. Once they fired the ferocious energies from their mouths, they combined to form a powerful combo attack. Westin gazed at it from below while Andrea managed to keep her eyes open, as Winkle smiled at the encouraging sight of her dragons pitting their powerful opponent into a corner. “My dragons can match your superhuman speed! Begone!”
Indeed, Jayce was forced to take the brunt of the impact. He struggled to get to his feet, once the combo attack from Winkle’s most powerful dragons had beamed down on their enemy before he could fully get out of dodge. “Ugh...this is frighteningly unexpected,” He held his Nullific
ation Sword tight in his hand, as smoke poured from its hilt like steam; it had absorbed a massive amount of non-aura based energy.
“Is this your weakness that we have just uncovered?” Winkle posed the question as a coy taunt, as Jayce raised his head in frustration; he was shaking horribly as a result of his sword’s strain. “Very frightening. Yet, I wonder...If you and your dragons would enjoy a taste of your own terrible power.” Jayce’s question made Winkle turn her head in confusion, as she prepared to give the signal to her dragons to finish him. “Special Technique, Rebound Incursion.”
Westin looked on in sudden horror, as Jayce’s sword suddenly blasted an ungodly beam of massive energy directly at Winkle and her dragons, as the energy release created a loud whirring thunder that spread across the abandoned city. “Let’s see the expression on your face now, Winkle Ramsay. My sword is able to absorb massive amounts of energy at my own expense. Although perhaps my biggest weakness, it becomes one of my largest strengths with my special technique. I can release all of the physical energy that I absorbed from your dragons at once, directly at you as a projectile.”
Once the large plume of smoke from the white blasting beam cleared, all five of Winkle’s now-charred dragons could be seen getting blown away, landing ferociously against the distant ground. Westin’s eyes grew even wider as he gazed upon Winkle as she suddenly had coughed up blood, looking as though she had been grazed by a massive fire. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, as she limply collapsed backwards to the ground.
Andrea’s eyes had closed sometime during the dragon’s battle, and Haynes appeared to have lost almost as much blood as she had. They were both badly wounded and completely sealed, and Winkle and her dragons had been nearly killed by Jayce’s mortifying rebound attack. Westin was now on his knees, desperately struggling to get to his feet as Jayce gripped his recovered sword with an accomplished look on his face.
“How are you feeling right now, seeing as how I sealed away your Third Eye and your death energy completely. Westin, it didn’t have to end this way for you guys...but, I was more than fair. Even after you guys have slaughtered my Shadow Project and accosted the hand that pulled you out of the literal hell that you were destined to die in...I gave you all an out. How dare you refuse me, after ALL OF THAT!!?”
Westin felt a pitiful hopelessness come over him as his knees wouldn’t budge, as desperately hard as he had tried to move them. He wondered for a second what he could do to save himself, even if he were able to stand. Jayce had elevated his sword, pointing it straight up at the sky as he wanted to strike Westin down with a coup de grace: one that would signal the beginning of his reign as the world’s new absolute ruler.
“I’m sorry Jayce, but I can’t allow you to kill Westin. You still haven’t sealed his power of life away...have you?” There was a familiar voice that had suddenly appeared from behind them, and it entered Jayce’s ears before his sword came down on Westin. Standing in the charred and smoking landscape next to the White House, was Christian Rivers. He held his reformed Diamond Edge Sword aloft, pointing it directly at Jayce with a look of calm confidence.
Westin looked on in relief, bowing his head at the sight of their leader having made his way back to his feet; his friends’ efforts in stalling their hopelessly strong opponent had been successful. It was solely in his hands now, as Christian was the only one who could save the world from Jayce’s wrath.
“We will bite the hand that freed us, Jayce...because we’reREBELS.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Brave New World
“Rebels who face impossible odds...can do nothing. You heard me just say it...you didn’t take the out that I offered. I will now end your life, while you point that hopeless sword at my face. This time, I will fully seal that elemental ability of yours!” Christian snickered inside a little, as he looked around at his fallen friends.
“Westin, I leave them in your hands. I’m taking this fight away from here so that none of you are caught in the crossfire.” Westin nodded purposefully at Christian, as Jayce laughed relentlessly.
“Ha! Wow, is that rich!? Asking me away from my own office in such a rude way! It’s enough to,” Christian cut off his opponent’s tiring rant, commanding the ground that he was standing on to rise up in an effort to swallow him whole. Jayce used his lightning fast speed to dodge it, yet with his elemental senses, Christian was able to match his speed perfectly. Using his sword, he literally commanded the elements to bend at his will with amazing precision.
“Ha! Bastard!” Jayce felt unusually excited and frustrated at the same time, as Christian was actually forcing him to leap away from the White House at impressive speeds as chunks of Earth continued to spew themselves into the air at him.
“We’ve gone far enough away from the city. This unincorporated area will do just fine.” Christian was successful in his efforts to relocate their fight that was destined to drastically change the entire landscape. He suddenly pointed his sword directly at a dodging Jayce, forcing a massive wall of water to shoot up and surround his opponent at an astounding speed. The compacted globe of water that had surrounded the nullifier had slowed him down, just enough to give Christian a chance to completely swallow his opponent with a chunk of the Earth.
“And now, Density Technique!” the mud wall had suddenly shrunk drastically in size, hardening almost instantly to completely trap Jayce. “Ha! Let’s see him escape from that!” just as Christian had taken a second to breathe and recover his aura, the dense ball of Earth cracked and dissolved as Jayce had blasted his Physical Rebound Incursion through his opponent’s attack for a successful escape.
“Your elemental advances fall under the category of physical power, making it perfectly susceptible to my Physical Rebound Technique. You are aware, are you not? That one slash when my nullification technique isn’t in remission like it must have been when I stabbed you before, and your elemental powers will be sealed. This time, there will be no distractions to keep me from plunging my sword through your heart.” Jayce’s words were something that Christian had already realized, and that was why he had made the choice to use all of his elemental powers to pit his opponent into a corner.
Christian knew that one small slip up, and it would be over in an instant. He knew that if the world was to not fall under the tyranny of Jayce Wolfgain, he would have make sure that no mistakes were made. “I’m aware of your abilities, and that will be my key in defeating you!!” Christian pointed his sword at a now advancing Jayce, who had leapt forward at full speed to make contact with his Nullification Technique.
But suddenly, on his advance, Jayce was swallowed up by a large whirlwind out of nowhere. “Here we go...Vortex Devastation Technique!” With all his might, Christian poured his energy into his sword, with the result being the whirlwind that Jayce had been caught up in suddenly growing to become a powerful rope tornado. It became even more frightening as the cyclonic wind instantly ignited, engulfing Jayce in a massive display of whirling fire that seemed to drop from the heavens. “I wonder, how are you handling the heat?”
Christian got his answer. It was a sudden and unexpected blast of ferocious white energy that appeared from inside of the tornado, as Jayce’s rebound attack had absorbed enough energy to completely char the landscape for miles. Christian had been forced to use his Diamond Fortress technique to protect himself, and it had barely worked against the massive beam of burning energy that could likely be seen from space.
“That Diamond Fortress of yours...I see that I was almost able to blast it away.” The fire tornado dissipated as Jayce emerged; he did appear to have taken a bit of damage from the heat. “That was an intense heat, but next time, that diamond ability of yours will not save you from my rebound.” With a sudden fury, Christian placed his hand on the heavily damaged fortress; the diamond walls seemed to scatter into a million particles, circulating throughout the atmosphere.
“Yeah, I guess I’ll have to be more careful,” Christian said in absolute focus
. It was yet another charge forward from Jayce, as Christian began to feel as though his opponent was a poor strategist. “You just keep charging directly at me...what gives?” A resilient smile beamed from the one that was now advancing on his prey, as he suddenly tossed his sword into the air; it sublimated in the same way that it had when he negated Andrea’s psych energy.
“I am coming for you, and this time, I will not be halted!” It was a daring move, as Christian began to wonder just what Jayce had up his sleeve. Without any words, the Elemental prodigy raised his sword towards the sky, releasing a shot of dark blue energy into the heat-based clouds that had formed after his tornado dissipated.
“I wonder about that...Acid Tears Technique,” It was a frightening sight as the clouds in the area turned a deep and disturbing crimson red, yet Jayce approached his opponent without faltering. “Be careful, if you don’t take defense against this next attack of mine...it will get very painful for you.” Christian advised, as Jayce began to realize that acid rain drops had begun to fall on him. They were an unusual shade of red, and they began to quickly dissolve the entire landscape that surrounded them.
“I wonder if anything will harm me as I advance forward...to end this fight! It is easy to have my sword absorb the physical damage that I take from this attack! This is no good, at all!” Christian’s eyes did grow wide, as he realized that the acid seemed to get absorbed once it would hit Jayce, seemingly because the Nullifying One had converted his energy from a concentrated form into his own body. Jayce suddenly decided to forgo the option of a rebound of the absorbed physical damage, as he instead continued forward without hesitation to personally strike his opponent down with his bare hands.
“Damn,” forced into a state of defense again, Christian suddenly turned his sword on himself; Jayce was amazed at the sight of the Diamond Edge seemingly melting away on his skin to form a complete titanium shield. “Part of manipulating earthen materials is the ability to fabricate titanium, and other strong defensive elements. This is like a suit of armor...just try to pierce through it!!”
