5.2) Unstoppable Force, Immovable Object

Atlas approached Victor Truman, who was now regaining his balance after being slammed onto the black car. Atlas felt a slight guilt in his heart, but he was not taking any chances when there was a chance that Mary could get hurt.

Somehow, Victor had managed to hold on to the dagger, as if it was the most precious thing in the world to him. Atlas decided that he had to take that dagger away from them as soon as possible.

And as he approached, reaching down to grab Victor, the woman who was quietly watching finally stepped between them. And when Atlas attempted to gently move her aside, the woman would not budge.

He tried moving her once more with greater force, but she wasn’t moving one bit. It was strange–it was as if all of the immense force he was putting onto her body was simply disappearing into thin air. He steadily applied more and more pressure, confused by what was happening–but nothing happened.

Is this what Mary was talking about? This… is a Leviathan?

“Calm down,” the Leviathan said, ignoring his attempts to move her. “It’s true that Victor has made some mistakes in the past, but we really did come here to save the world. If you don’t want to save the universe from collapsing, you should hand that power over to us.”

“You don’t understand. I had almost forgotten,” Atlas said. “This power isn’t just something that can be used to save the world–with it also comes the power to destroy the world. To abandon humanity to their fate. Or even to subject the world to tyranny. I can’t simply give it to anyone. And you people almost injured my friend.”

The Leviathan sighed. “And you injured my friend, too. But it’s alright. I get it, he made stupid decisions in the past and then made another stupid decision just now. But we need that power to save the world, whether or not you trust us.”

“I can’t trust either of you. I’m sorry. Please leave,” Atlas warned.

The Leviathan scratched her head. “Well, that’s unfortunate–we don’t have time to spare. I guess it's time for plan B.”

She looked at Mary. “Miss, you might want to head inside. It won’t be safe for you here.”

Mary objected. “Y-you can’t be serious! You expect me to just leave him for you to cut up?!”

“… Mary.”

She looked at Atlas. “Yeah?”

He spoke softly. “Get inside. Make sure Julian doesn’t come out, okay? Don’t let him know about this.”

“But…”

“She can’t beat me,” he said assuringly. “I’m sure of it. Now go.”

Mary reluctantly nodded, then hesitantly walked back inside.

The Leviathan flicked her head toward the streets. “Let’s bring this over there. I want to minimize property damage.”

“... Very well,” Atlas said.

The Leviathan looked at Victor Truman with a serious expression, who was now silently watching the situation unfold. Victor nodded, as if he had understood what she was trying to say.

 Then, both Atlas and the Leviathan walked away from the apartments without another word, taking their conflict to the middle of the streets.

The Leviathan pulled her sword out of her sheath, pointing it down to her right with a single hand. Then, she turned her sword, pointing the blunt edge of the sword outward.

“I’m sorry it had to come to this,” the Leviathan said once more. “But this is a battle to save the world.”

As he was about to respond, she dashed forward with the speed of a regular human being. Atlas tensed, but was confident that she would be incapable of doing much damage to her at the speed she was dashing at him. He fearlessly watched as she swung her sword up and finally landed it on his head.

… And Atlas’s head immediately slammed into the ground, creating a massive crater below him as his body flipped forwards. There was a shockwave that shattered the windows of the few cars parked nearby, and birds and squirrels alike fled from their resting places in the shrubs and trees. His body bounced off the ground.

Atlas shook his head and got onto his feet, perhaps feeling shock for the first time in his renewed life.

The Leviathan stepped back to her original position, not saying a word. Atlas’s mind raced, trying to understand what had just happened.

This… is a Leviathan. Let’s start from there. What did Mary tell me before? Yes, yes–all Leviathans had a gimmick. There was one who could teleport. Another who could cleave anything in half with an axe. And…

… And one who could absorb and redirect kinetic energy. Yes, this must be what that is. What terrifying power…

... But it also means that she can’t do anything on her own. She must rely on my own energy to fight. That means that if I just don’t touch her, she won’t have any energy to hit me with…

… Now, how do I engage an opponent that I can’t physically hurt?

Atlas’s body moved forward, shooting his right leg forward and wrapping his arm around her right leg, attempting to lift her from below like a wrestler. But once again, she did not budge. It was a strange sensation–it was almost as if her body was simply reducing his immense power to zero.

The Leviathan lifted her sword once more with both hands–but this time, Atlas reacted, reaching his arm upward to try and block his head.

And as he braced for impact–there was no strike.

He looked up and saw that his forearms had blocked her forearms from descending further, preventing her from completing her swing.

Atlas was surprised–he hadn’t actually believed that he would stop her.

Then, the Leviathan switched to a single hand grip and swung down once more, this time successfully landing another blow. And once again, he was slammed down to the ground, causing an even greater impact on the asphalt than before. And once again, his body bounced off the ground.

As he stumbled back on his feet, the Leviathan took steps backward and sighed, pointing the sword onto the ground once more.

Atlas still found it shocking that he was being tossed around like a ragdoll. But he had noticed something in the physical exchange.

For a second there, she couldn’t hit me. Why?

He thought deeply. He had an instinctive feeling that their next clash would be their final–that there was something that he had just unconsciously realized that would allow him to stop her.

For a moment, he had successfully stopped her sword swing. But he couldn’t figure out why–she seemed to be strong enough for him to not move her.

Wait. I can’t move her, but that doesn’t mean she can move ME, he thought.

He realized the point of her wielding the sword–all the kinetic energy she absorbed through contact had to be used through her sword. She couldn’t just punch or kick him–she was just a regular person. It was the sword that was the issue.

Atlas moved forward, now understanding what he had to do. As Abigail raised her arms, readying to slam him down once more, Atlas accelerated and placed himself in front of her, grabbing both her hands tightly.

She tried to break free from his grasp, moving her feet backwards. And as he hypothesized–her hands did not budge. She was stuck.

“... Well, you got me,” she said calmly. “But the moment you let go of my hands, I’ll just slam you down once more. Unless, of course, you want to give up.”

“Not quite. I know how to beat you now. This isn’t a deadlock.”

“Really now?”

He nodded. “My friend mentioned something quite interesting–she mentioned that your sword could absorb and redirect kinetic energy. But kinetic energy is just one form of energy. Don’t you agree?”

“What are you saying?”

“If I simply heat my hands up just a little bit, your hands will burn. And if I go further, I could probably melt your hands.”

“... And?” The Leviathan said coldly.

“So give up,” he said. He was still hoping that this would all resolve peacefully.

“I never give up,” the Leviathan said.

“Then I really will start heating my hands up,” he said, bluffing.

“Go ahead,” she said.

He blinked. He hadn’t expected his bluff to fail so quickly. But even so, he knew he had to scare her to break the standstill.

“Okay. I warned you,” he said.

Slowly, he began applying heat to his hands. He could see the Leviathan’s eyes twitch momentarily, but her eyes seemed to become immediately resolute afterwards.

But as he was about to increase the heat even more, he felt a sudden, piercing sensation on his right shoulder. And it hurt. Badly.

“G-ghh…” he let out a sound of pain, letting go of the Leviathan’s hands and collapsing forward as his whole body tensed. And the Leviathan caught him in her arms, gently holding him.

The Leviathan sighed. “Did you really have to stab him so hard?”

“He was going to burn you,” Victor said from behind, "and that’s what you’re worried about?”

“I’ve been through worse," she replied.

Then, Atlas writhed in agony as he felt Victor rip the dagger out of his shoulder. It felt like every bone and muscle in his body had been torn out of his skin.

"Victor, are you sure this won’t kill him? It looks quite painful.”

“It’s only lethal if I use this dagger to stab a normal person. Otherwise, it does what it is supposed to do. And now, we have the power of infinity… in my hands.”