Climax Pt. 1

Neptune takes a long look at all of us before speaking.
"I must say, I didn't account on you defeating and..."
He looks at Red.
"Converting my team."

Gaia wastes no time, flashing forward ready to punch him square in the throat. As she's close to doing it it suddenly happens.

Crack.

In a blink of an eye, her arm twists causing her to fall forward.
I was stunned looking at Gaia, who despite probably being in tremendous pain and tired from all the magic she did, still got up, eyes filled with hatred glaring right at him every step of the way.

She then turned to speak.
"EVERYONE, KEEP HIM BUSY!"
And just like that, before I knew it, everyone was attacking him.

Red was throwing fireballs of incredible size at him, as White provided the defence with her earth walls.
Even Tarou whose magic was still barebones was doing his best to blast him to the ground.
But regardless of what attack was thrown at him, he avoided them all. Thanks to the ground being extremely wet from before, he had access to plenty of water to defend himself with.
Unable to do anything I quickly join Gaia as she seems to be spreading vines all over.
"Gaia! Nothing's hitting him, what do we do?"
"I have a plan but I'll need some time to do it, meanwhile, what you should do is request reinforcements, he's more dangerous than he looks."
"What's your plan?"
"KAZU, REINFORCEMENTS!"
I hadn't expected her to yell at me, but I quickly shake it off.
"Right, I'll do it."

I quickly call HQ for help.
"This is Hero dispatch, what's the address."
"DAD! Don't put me through to Gaia! I'm here to request reinforcements!"
"Huh?! Are you ok?!"
"We found Neptune, or rather, he found us! We took out Inferno and Red has joined us in the fight against him, send help!"
"WHAT'S THE ADDRESS?!"
"Oh right! It's uhh, some sort of field of gas containers, so near a factory or som-"
"YOU'RE THERE?! I'm getting a live broadcast of there... So that's you?"
"Yes."
"Understood, rerouting some heroes in the area.
...Ok done, now get yourself to a safe area, let Gaia deal with it."
"I don't think I can, this is not the best place to run from."
Suddenly Gaia yells out.
"DON'T RUN, IT'S NOT SAFE RIGHT NOW!"
"...What she said."
"Fine, they're en route, but basically everyone is filled up to their heads in duties, so I couldn't send many."
"Ok, thanks."
I close the call and turn to look back at Gaia.

This whole time she had been spreading vines towards all the containers in view, perhaps more.
"What are you..."
"Just an idea that Inferno gave me, it's almost done, what's Neptune up to?"
I look back at him, he hadn't moved at all from his spot, he just stood there, almost uncanny, tanking it all. By now Tarou had grown tired and stopped, but Red was still going strong.
"He's still there... He hasn't moved at all..."
"Ok good."
"I'd say creepy."

Moments pass, then suddenly Gaia picks me up and throws me towards Red, who upon noticing it looks at Gaia confused.
"Tarou, get to Miss Redhead, FAST."
He does as instructed, the moment he reaches us she continues.
"Redhead, keep them safe."
"Huh? From what?"

Gaia snaps her fingers, creating a small flame which she places at the source of the vines she had created, suddenly the flame spreads fast, following the same path the vines took.
Red seems to realize, as she then covers us in a shield of fire.
"Everyone, huddle up, this is going to be loud."

After Red says that a huge sound happens, the fire Gaia had placed reached every single container in the area, feeding a huge explosion that rocked everyone. Soon however the chaotic explosion starts to be combined and directed straight towards us, or more specifically to Neptune who was behind us.
Gaia had purposefully done this to gain enough fire power to hopefully obliterate Neptune, who after noticing what was about to happen, shot some ice spikes towards the water tower, bursting it open, and using it as a shield.

For an excruciating amount of time, the fire keeps being blasted towards us and him, connecting with him and creating an awful sound as steam is created. I don't know how long it lasts, but I can see keeping the shield intact is draining Red of all her energy.
Finally after all the fuel is used up it stops, and with it, the shield that Red had been keeping up. The moment it stops causing her to collapse, absolutely exhausted.
Gaia steps forward, reaching our position, waiting for the steam to disperse, clearly also exhausted. Before we can see with our eyes the fate of Neptune, a massive amount of ice shards get launched forward, White instinctively creates a wall, but the shards shred it like paper along with her who was still standing, causing her to drop. Meanwhile Gaia, who was too exhausted to use any more magic, simply dropped to the floor hoping to avoid most of the damage, at which point an ice spike gets launched at her leg, undoubtedly causing a massive amount of pain.

Me and Tarou watch this unfold, stunned, we had been laying down, and when White created the wall, the bottom half was all that remained afterwards, allowing us to remain relatively unharmed though still tired.
Upon seeing White, he doesn't hesitate and immediately crawls to her, doing his best to stop most of the bleeding. I look towards Gaia, she suffered some cuts, and besides the big spike pinning her leg down, seems much better off than White.
'She must have still been able to deflect the shards...'

Neptune takes a step forward and speaks.
"It was a good front you put, but in the end, it wasn't enough."

'Please... When is help arriving...'

As if hearing my prayers, something appears at lightning speed, catching Neptune off guard and managing to punch him straight against one of the now empty containers.
I look over with relief washing over me.
"Thunder! You're here!"
"Sure am kid. I'm better now so I had to come out and help."
Thunder looks at White, then at Gaia.
"...Damn."
Thunder then looks somewhere else, which is when another hero appears.
"Hey slowpoke, finally got here."
"Well, your whole thing IS speed, this was to be expected."
'Echo...'
"ECHO! You're here too!"

I unconsciously have a wide smile on my face as I see the two heroes, filling me with hope.
"Ah, Kazu, don't worry, we're here now!"
"Gaia is hurt! And White too! Uhh, she's th-"
"I know who she is, try to keep them steady, we'll deal with Neptune.
Thunder, you remember the plan?"
"Yeah."
"Good."
Echo then places down a book down, and in a deep tone speaks.
"Begin."

Thunder suddenly starts running all over, placing some strange rune whenever he stops.
Neptune, who had previously been punched into a container, emerges from it causing Echo to immediately call out.
"THUNDER, GET HIM! QUICK!"
He does as instructed, with his speed trying to catch Neptune off guard again, but as he closes in, Neptune turns to to him and summons an ice spike, launching it directly into his shoulder.
"AGH!
Heh, heheh, wised up to my strength huh?"
Thunder breaks off the spike and readies for a fight.

Meanwhile, as that is about to happen, Light Show shows up behind us, emerging from where she had ran off to.
"I GOT MY BOOK BACK!"
But upon seeing the situation in front of her, gets momentarily shocked, surprised by what she's seeing she quickly gets into action and runs to Tarou and White.
"Hey, out of my way!"
"Huh?! I have to hel-"
"I KNOW, SO OUT OF MY WAY!"
She quickly pushes him off and places her hands on White, causing a burst of light coming from the book, which is now securely equipped on her back again.

The light then spreads all over White, shining brightly. After it fades, we see that the cuts are no longer there.
"You... can heal?"
"YEAH, SO WHAT?!"
Tarou immediately grabs her hand.
"THAT'S AMAZING! THANK YOU!"
"HEY, STOP THAT!"
Gaia also speaks up.
"That really is amazing..."

But the moment doesn't last long, as Thunder gets thrown towards us, landing right on top of her, knocking her out.
I look back only to see Neptune, now with some scratches, walking towards Echo.
"WATCH OUT!"
"Tch, it'll have to do. LIGHT SHOW, WARN THE REST, IT'S LIKE LAST TIME!"
Upon hearing this, I remember what happened, so I quickly warn them.
"Cover your ears!"
Just in time, as soon all the runes start shining, activating as a screeching sound starts blaring.
"...?!"

I see Neptune struggle, but still he keeps going.
With blood dripping from his ears he reaches Echo.