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Yesterday, this was an ordinary twenty-first century city. Today it's a war zone, tomorrow it'll be walled off and abandoned.
A few collapsed buildings, shattered streets, and assorted craters. The place is mostly empty, with scattered groups of mostly humanoid monsters roaming and trying to escape the guarded fence around the city. The most instantly noticeable change is an ongoing wordless singing in the back of the mind of anyone present. By itself it's just a sound. An unpleasant sound, and almost but not quite predictable as if someone were trying to attack the listener's sanity without saying anything, but possible to ignore. But along with it, any time a listener closes their eyes they get flashes of memories. Not their worst memories, but whatever negative ones can stick with them unforgettably. It builds up associations between the feelings in those images and almost anything else. Sometimes there's a recognizable common thread and other times there isn't.
An angel fights off teams of opponents. She's fifteen feet tall, extremely winged, with more wings than is strictly necessary for an angel. Even some of her wings have wings. All of them are asymmetric and varyingly sized. A spherical halo of weaponry surrounds her, firing at her more distant enemies from across the battlefield. Her opponents cycle in and out: a golden man, a man surrounded by a bubble, a woman in a dark costume, all flying. Others make certain to stay away after taking their turn, on rare occasions spending too long hearing the angel's music. Those ones voluntarily self-destruct.
A small group of ordinary humans takes refuge in a house as far from the battle as they can reach. The song is quieter here, and, they hope, less potent. Some of them run away from and back to the house, occasionally calling for help. They haven't found any.
whole_new_can
wormcan
Well then there needs to be more dust, doesn't there. If an Endbringer can't be irksome then what's even the point. He slams both hands down, knocking the earthbound capes down with the quake. And then lightning crackles around the entire battlefield, from cape to cape. Surprisingly few stay down, but the armbands have stopped reporting.
Alexandria's group of flying bricks batters Behemoth from above again. Some of them start falling out of the sky, and then his counterattack spreads outward. The ground seems to slant, so that toward Behemoth is downhill. It gets gradually steeper as his gravity-altering effect strengthens; capes who either got too close or can't fly start falling toward his kill radius.
Alexandria's group of flying bricks batters Behemoth from above again. Some of them start falling out of the sky, and then his counterattack spreads outward. The ground seems to slant, so that toward Behemoth is downhill. It gets gradually steeper as his gravity-altering effect strengthens; capes who either got too close or can't fly start falling toward his kill radius.
ertia
Without the armbands, Kithabel will have to guess, but anybody who she sees doing damage will have the chance to do it again and she can get a headcount for everyone else afterwards.
The gravity thing - well.
Nobody can manage things like that at home because everyone's got such strong opinions about gravity.
Here, it is Kithabel's opinion about gravity that matters and it is to go back to normal at once no backtalk.
The gravity thing - well.
Nobody can manage things like that at home because everyone's got such strong opinions about gravity.
Here, it is Kithabel's opinion about gravity that matters and it is to go back to normal at once no backtalk.
wormcan
The gravity well grumbles, but weakens and returns to normal. But there are more tricks where that came from. Eventually. For now it's just mundane things like fireballs. A team of pyrokinetics manages to deflect several back at Behemoth, where they do nothing.
ertia
The next time Behemoth tries to dive underground, Kithabel just picks him up. And holds him. In the air.
Lightning rods spring up; she's not sure who's doing that, she doesn't think it's anybody she's healed or resurrected yet.
She'll drop Behemoth when he looks wrecked enough to flee. For now there is nothing to gain from his being mobile.
Lightning rods spring up; she's not sure who's doing that, she doesn't think it's anybody she's healed or resurrected yet.
She'll drop Behemoth when he looks wrecked enough to flee. For now there is nothing to gain from his being mobile.
wormcan
Aside from the lightning rods, shakers in general are doing what they do best. Large quantities of material appear below and around Behemoth, restraining his limbs as much as they can. There's nothing to gain from his being able to point at people, either. Those who can meaningfully hold Behemoth in place do, and those who can blast at him do that.
The Endbringer objects to this. He starts to glow bright silver. Everyone backs away from the kill radius. A fiery border appears, denoting the edge. That part's new. And then it starts expanding. One hundred feet, one hundred twenty...
Any capes caught in between are burned, zapped, vaporized, or all of these at once and then some. Few are durable enough to survive every available threat. The sphere keeps expanding.
The Endbringer objects to this. He starts to glow bright silver. Everyone backs away from the kill radius. A fiery border appears, denoting the edge. That part's new. And then it starts expanding. One hundred feet, one hundred twenty...
Any capes caught in between are burned, zapped, vaporized, or all of these at once and then some. Few are durable enough to survive every available threat. The sphere keeps expanding.
ertia
Kithabel gets into a direct fight with that sphere. She objects to it. It should shrink. It should turn on its creator.
wormcan
One hundred forty, one hundred sixty...
(Not that the sorcery didn't work. The sphere shrinks as commanded. But Behemoth is perfectly capable of incinerating people manually whenever they fall inside where the border ought to be.)
Area-affect capes have other things to do now, building barriers to absorb radiation or decreasing temperature to counteract the heat; Behemoth is doing enough things that too many of them are relevant one way or another.
(Not that the sorcery didn't work. The sphere shrinks as commanded. But Behemoth is perfectly capable of incinerating people manually whenever they fall inside where the border ought to be.)
Area-affect capes have other things to do now, building barriers to absorb radiation or decreasing temperature to counteract the heat; Behemoth is doing enough things that too many of them are relevant one way or another.
wormcan
The kill radius decreases to its normal size.
Satisfied that he's setting the terms of the fight, Behemoth turns to duel a twenty-foot dragon. Neither of them burns the other very effectively, but the heat does start melting the ground beneath them. Even most of the heavy hitters back off.
Satisfied that he's setting the terms of the fight, Behemoth turns to duel a twenty-foot dragon. Neither of them burns the other very effectively, but the heat does start melting the ground beneath them. Even most of the heavy hitters back off.
ertia
Kithabel does other work while the... dragon... is that one of those Brockton Bay villains who had the good sense never to attack her...? has Behemoth occupied. She chills the rest of the air. She does a batch of resurrections, she does a batch of healings.
And then a Dragon drone zooms up to her, clutching the end of what looks for all the world like a hair. "This is supposed to be indestructible," the drone says. "It's not thin enough to cut deep into him, though. Can you make it thinner without disconnecting it from the other end?"
"How thin?"
"As thin as possible."
So Kithabel wants.
And then she lassos the monster with it and pulls tight.
And then a Dragon drone zooms up to her, clutching the end of what looks for all the world like a hair. "This is supposed to be indestructible," the drone says. "It's not thin enough to cut deep into him, though. Can you make it thinner without disconnecting it from the other end?"
"How thin?"
"As thin as possible."
So Kithabel wants.
And then she lassos the monster with it and pulls tight.
wormcan
As thin as possible actually has a meaningful answer most of the time. There are minimum size limits that the universe won't allow anything to break. Normally. Kithabel is free to ignore them.
The absurdly sharp wire lands around Behemoth's neck and slices through the monster as if he weren't there. Alexandria pulls on the top half, and winds up with the Endbringer's head and most of a shoulder. The lowercase dragon and Rukavista manage to tear off the dangling arm.
Behemoth responds about how he'd be expected to: he detonates. Shards of obsidian fly out in every direction, faster than they can reasonably be responded to. People are immune to shrapnel or they aren't, but there's no question of defending. The flesh around Behemoth's neck and shoulder starts visibly regenerating.
The absurdly sharp wire lands around Behemoth's neck and slices through the monster as if he weren't there. Alexandria pulls on the top half, and winds up with the Endbringer's head and most of a shoulder. The lowercase dragon and Rukavista manage to tear off the dangling arm.
Behemoth responds about how he'd be expected to: he detonates. Shards of obsidian fly out in every direction, faster than they can reasonably be responded to. People are immune to shrapnel or they aren't, but there's no question of defending. The flesh around Behemoth's neck and shoulder starts visibly regenerating.
ertia
Kithabel's immune to shrapnel. The wire's immune to shrapnel. Everything else can wait. She lassos the regenerating half. She yanks.
wormcan
Behemoth senses it coming somehow, or else was just lucky. He twists, and loses only a small slice of new regeneration.
But the other effect of cutting him in two was to provide an obvious target for every other cape on the field. Led by Legend, they start pouring everything they have in to where the shoulder used to be. The combined firepower bites a bit deeper before the rate of regeneration cancels it out.
The lizardlike cape is by now blasting less with fire and more with the abstract concept of heat. Behemoth redirects it upward, and multiple fliers fall with a thunderclap.
But the other effect of cutting him in two was to provide an obvious target for every other cape on the field. Led by Legend, they start pouring everything they have in to where the shoulder used to be. The combined firepower bites a bit deeper before the rate of regeneration cancels it out.
The lizardlike cape is by now blasting less with fire and more with the abstract concept of heat. Behemoth redirects it upward, and multiple fliers fall with a thunderclap.
wormcan
Behemoth reaches for its severed arm, and is stopped by a golden figure. Scion apparently never got the hang of arriving exactly when all hope seems lost. He blocks a blast of lightning, and ignores Eidolon's assistance.
ertia
Thanks for finally showing up, dude. Kithabel is embarrassed to be compared to you.
Kithabel moves the wire with sorcery alone at the speed of do it already. She holds the regenerating piece again long enough to slice.
Kithabel moves the wire with sorcery alone at the speed of do it already. She holds the regenerating piece again long enough to slice.
wormcan
Behemoth continues losing chunks. Nearby capes slam into him, surrounding the Endbringer with human shields. Not all of them are invulnerable, but the kill radius was always something he actively maintained. One of the shields is Alexandria, despite her best efforts, and once she's caught in the wire it's much less useful for cutting.
Scion strikes Behemoth, and the effect he's using to hold on to the hostages drops. Alexandria gets recaptured; under the circumstances she's the monster's priority.
It's immediately apparent that Scion isn't fighting to kill. He never does. But even if he could end the war and doesn't, he's at least occupying more of Behemoth's attention than nearly all the rest of the heroes combined.
Scion strikes Behemoth, and the effect he's using to hold on to the hostages drops. Alexandria gets recaptured; under the circumstances she's the monster's priority.
It's immediately apparent that Scion isn't fighting to kill. He never does. But even if he could end the war and doesn't, he's at least occupying more of Behemoth's attention than nearly all the rest of the heroes combined.
wormcan
And there's a shortage of other hostages who can block the impossibly sharp weapon.
The Endbringer has by now lost nearly all of the padding around its skeleton, and quite a few pieces of that. Eidolon's matter deletion power sweeps out a volume near the original cut at the shoulder. It runs into resistance at the point that used to be the greatest depth beneath where the collarbone should be if he had a set, but that's just a signal to focus there. Hero's burning golden light never leaves that spot, and is occasionally joined by some of Scion's similar but larger beams.
The Endbringer has by now lost nearly all of the padding around its skeleton, and quite a few pieces of that. Eidolon's matter deletion power sweeps out a volume near the original cut at the shoulder. It runs into resistance at the point that used to be the greatest depth beneath where the collarbone should be if he had a set, but that's just a signal to focus there. Hero's burning golden light never leaves that spot, and is occasionally joined by some of Scion's similar but larger beams.
wormcan
Behemoth scrambles to escape, but is out of defenses and is being held in place by Scion. Whenever it tries something, the golden man counteracts it. And the other golden man, with his green-robed teammate, steadily make progress on the toughest part of the remnant of the Endbringer.
Until an enormous rush of lave erupts from the ground.
There are no volcanoes in Novosibirsk. Usually. Now, apparently, there's a completely artificial hole bored through the earth's crust, and very few capes are prepared to deal with a geyser of lava.
Eidolon and Hero glance at each other, deciding whether to help, and they keep going. The chance to kill an Endbringer is too much to pass up. Scion does differently; apparently he judges Behemoth to have been sufficiently fought. And now he has a different emergency to deal with.
The heroes' shakers repeat their dubiously effective trick from earlier, holding what's left of Behemoth in place now that Scion isn't.
Until an enormous rush of lave erupts from the ground.
There are no volcanoes in Novosibirsk. Usually. Now, apparently, there's a completely artificial hole bored through the earth's crust, and very few capes are prepared to deal with a geyser of lava.
Eidolon and Hero glance at each other, deciding whether to help, and they keep going. The chance to kill an Endbringer is too much to pass up. Scion does differently; apparently he judges Behemoth to have been sufficiently fought. And now he has a different emergency to deal with.
The heroes' shakers repeat their dubiously effective trick from earlier, holding what's left of Behemoth in place now that Scion isn't.
ertia
Volcanoes are unheard of on Kithabel's world because they know who is boss.
Kithabel: is boss.
GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM, LAVA.
FUCKING DIE ALREADY, BEHEMOTH.
Kithabel: is boss.
GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM, LAVA.
FUCKING DIE ALREADY, BEHEMOTH.
wormcan
Behemoth isn't exactly listening, but he's kind of under a lot of stress right now.
The combined assault on his core finally takes its toll. The comparatively small black sliver of what used to be Behemoth detonates again, this time for good, leaving behind much more radiation than can possibly be healthy.
Hero, being in a position to notice that, cancels the irradiation one area at a time. (And is then superseded by Scion doing the same at a stroke.)
Then the celebration can start.
The combined assault on his core finally takes its toll. The comparatively small black sliver of what used to be Behemoth detonates again, this time for good, leaving behind much more radiation than can possibly be healthy.
Hero, being in a position to notice that, cancels the irradiation one area at a time. (And is then superseded by Scion doing the same at a stroke.)
Then the celebration can start.
wormcan
Nobody stays dead today.
The golden man floats to Kithabel, and his normally blankly sad expression looks hopeful.
"Help me."
The golden man floats to Kithabel, and his normally blankly sad expression looks hopeful.
"Help me."