Chapter 33

Blue streaks of flame engulfed him as Ghost’s spine stiffened and his bones cracked to life, he grabbed onto Apex’s arm in a vice-grip. The fire spread and latched onto the ground as if it were a living thing, clinging to the earth.

“What the-” Apex could only say as he watched the fire waft off of the body and separate. The body left behind hardened into a shimmering solid form holding Apex’s fist in place, while the fire that split off solidified on its hands and knees into Ghost.

“You’re a Super?!” Apex exclaimed, he gathered energy into his palm but the sound of lightning streaked through the air as a silver-haired young-man with dark green goggles suddenly appeared next to Apex. He wrapped some kinda manacle along his wrist before Apex knew what he was doing, then dropped an object to the ground. The manacle and the object glowed as Apex was pulled to the ground by that hand.

Now on his knees, he found that he couldn’t use his arms anymore.

The young man did a two-finger forehead salute while placing his palm on Ghost, and disappearing with him at the sound of a lightning strike.

“Annoying little-” Suddenly Apex was shot in the face. Then the torso, legs, and the groin for good measure. But not by series of bullet, some kind of pink globule substance that spread around the damaged areas, he couldn’t take it off and sparks of electricity arced off his armor. Whatever it did, it seemed as though it definitely hurt him.

And finally, Vera dropped down from a roof. Her arm becoming translucent, just like what she did with Hanabi. She thrust her arm through Apex’s armor, and he too convulsed and shuddered. If it worked like with Hanabi, Apex just lost access to his suit’s powers.

“How does it feel?” Vera taunted. She’d wrenched this god among mortals down from his throne, he was just a human, like everyone else. “How does it feel to know that you weren’t beaten by some other god, but just another… abomination.” She unsheathed a glowing, ornate, dagger. Ethereal energy flowed off it like a mist. “As much as I’d love to pry you out of that tin can and beat you to death… I think the girl over there’s done a fine job of that already. So,” Vera grabbed the top of his helmet, and started to force it open. “How about we put an end to this?”

The helmet hissed and steam came out, as Apex frantically repeated his rejection of the reality faced before him. “No. No. No. No. No! No! No! NO! NO! NO!” The helmet had not come off in decades in front of another person, and now, he was about to be unmasked for the world to see. It lifted up above his chin when suddenly, “NO!” Apex’s high-pitched scream echoed out as the force lifted Vera off her feet, she rushed forward with the knife to salvage the operation, but it was too late.

Apex shouted out a impossibly loud, guttural, primal scream. It echoed far and wide, as buildings, already damaged from the battle, collapsed into heaps, and earth was upended. He screamed until his throat became hoarse and sore. At which point his head hung low. He breathed heavily. “That’s it…” he said. “I have suffered… this indignity… long enough. Anyone, who sees this face… cannot be allowed to live. Under any circumstance.” Apex gathered energy around him, using his pure force alone to wrench himself free from his prisons. “I’m done.” He growled. “I don’t care anymore about this mission, these people, or anything. Screw what the Consortium wanted. I’m gonna level this whole area, until there’s nothing left but a smoking crater.” He lifted his hands in the air, as a sphere of energy started to form. It grew rapidly as the surrounding area began to disintegrate and feed into it. “There’s nothing that can stop me now. Not some random supers, not the Gatekeepers, or anything. Everyone’s gonna die.”

“Emergency Repairs Completed”

Hanabi had words about that! Grav-drive activated, she launched off from the ground towards Apex. She wasn’t sure how she was gonna beat him, but-

“Unauthorized Warp Relay Detected… Item Unknown”

“Accept?”

“Warning: Unidentified Item”

“Warning: Unauthorized Relay”

“97% chance of unintended dire consequences”

“Accept relay?”

The outline of the knife appeared in her field of vision, that was what they were going to use to kill Apex. She didn’t know what it was, but… not like she had another choice. She accepted the relay as the knife formed in her hand just as she reached Apex.

He didn’t even notice her as she switched the knife to a reverse grip, and slashed through his armor. She was surprised to see that it somehow bypassed the armor. Not wanting to lose the initiative, she spun on her foot and slashed the knife across his chest.

“Again you’re in my way!” He frantically blasted her, but at this range, it was useless.

She snaked around behind him, left his helmet to see the grayish skin beneath and then… she stabbed the knife into neck.

He screamed from the pain and could no longer hold the energy, it burst out prematurely, once again knocking Hanabi away like a sonic boom. The knife fell and clattered by Apex’s feet, Hanabi collided with some upturned rubble nearby.

Apex staggered, clutching his neck wound, he then fell to his knees.

Was it over? Was it finally over?

But, he was still breathing. Even with those wounds. Well, actually, the wounds looked strange. They didn’t seem to damage the armor at all, hell they didn’t even seem to damage his skin. Instead, they just created gashes composed of some strange swirling energy field.

He touched the injuries, but they seemed to do nothing. He couldn’t help but laugh. “And what was this supposed to do?” He stood up, staggered, and caught himself. “Now, where were we? Ah right, I was gonna glass this whole-”

A deep roar came from within the lacerations. A giant clawed hand gripped the edges of the breach, and from within the cut in his side sprung out the claw of a creature that was so impossible huge when compared to the relatively small size of the laceration.

More claws sprung out of the laceration in his front. He panicked and tried blasting them, but when he cut off one, two more came in its place. He was being engulfed and pulled into the breach that formed beneath his feet. He sunk and fought desperately, he screamed but as a tendril wrapped around his neck, it silenced him for good until the great and mighty Apex fell into the void trapped in a hell he’d been consigned to.

Hanabi breathed a sigh of relief as the breach closed itself, she did not have the energy to fight monsters right now. “Finally….” Well, it was possible he survived that, however… there was no chance that she could follow him.

That place. That was clearly the Warp Anomaly field that made up the dome that encased the region. And as she’d been told, no one had ever returned from that place. So, far as she knew, he was good as dead. Either he survived but was trapped for all eternity, or was devoured by the monsters that lurked in there. In any case, he was gone.

She closed her eyes, and let herself relax. She remembered her friend, the one that Apex had killed. “It’s over.” She thought of them, and smiled.

“Standby Mode… Engaged.”

Her world went dark.