1.44 – Making bank

They parted a few seconds later as Nathan took in his surroundings once again. Most of the battle seemed to be over already, but the sounds from behind didn’t stop. Yukiko descended towards them, her scars giving her already sour look even more fear-inducing visage.

“Are you okay, Yukiko?”

“Totally fine. Absolutely cheery. That kid was strong though, more than I expected. Why did they…?” She looked at him, her eyes scanning Nathan up and down, before she shook her head. “Actually, never mind. We’ll need to talk later.” She pointed towards the room behind them. “We need to go. Whatever is happening there doesn’t seem pretty. Can you two stay here?”

Nathan looked at her arms, and then her as a whole. She was bleeding all over, but most of the wounds seemed to be surface cuts, nothing too deep that would hinder the superhuman. Despite that, he couldn’t help the shudder that went through him. Mio was supposed to be a new student at this point. How was she strong enough to stand more or less equal to Vermillion Strike?

He shook his head, deciding to ponder things like that later.

“I kinda want to go inside. What about all of these people, though?” He pointed all around them. There were a lot of Onis that were lying on the ground, and even more with their arms raised above their head. Many of them were hurt, far more than Yukiko was. Some were bleeding out where the roots of the tree that disappeared now impaled them.

Rosy, for her part, was standing on the the remains of the large Oni that rushed them before, and seemed to be looking around with a bewildered expression.

“The rest of the heroes are on the way, and the SHRA will send some medics soon. They’ll live, most of them. Rosy knows how to avoid critical areas even en masse. Anyway, kiddos,” she sighed, clearly tired. “Stay here. Help Rosy.”

Nathan had no will to stay here while the conclusion of all of this was happening inside. He moved to the side, letting Yukiko walk beside him, and then he followed her. If she noticed, she didn’t reprimand him.

“Are you seriously okay, Nathan? Not hurt anywhere? If I find out you’re lying…”

“No, I’m fine. All thanks to you.” He smiled and squeezed her hand for a second. “Where did that whip come from? No longer using a teddy?”

“I can still use a teddy.” She smiled, abashed. “But something changed. I don’t even know what, but I just felt like I could shape it differently, and with all this going on, I just listened to the reflex. It was almost as if something inside fell away.”

“Broke one of your limits. Congrats, Alicia, you are probably at least E-rank hero now.” Yukiko said from in front of them as she grabbed the door and swung it open.

There was carnage on the inside. Several of the A-class heroes were on the ground, wounded. The Onis, for their part, the two that were on the inside, seemed to be dead. One of them seemed to be in three places in the room at once.

But strangely, the boss of the Onis didn’t even seem to have moved much. There were wounds on his body, and one of his arms was missing, but he was right where Nathan saw him stand before.

Knives were thrown all over the floor, scattered from throws, but several dozen seemed to be rotating around the boss man’s head. Just as Nathan watched, a shock of lightning went towards the Oni boss, but three of the knives immediately hovered to where the lightning ball was meant to impact and took the shock of the attack before quickly zooming towards the hero in a counter-attack of their own. The hero dodged, clearly prepared, but it seemed like they were at an impasse.

Nathan grabbed one of the knives and began twirling it in his hand. Momentum built up, but he still had something left over.

“Telekinesis. Be careful. Those knives may come from any angle.” Yukiko said as she took a fighting stance, preparing to fly forward.

“Wait, Yukiko. I think I got this.”

She glanced at him, her eyebrows in a scowl, but then she nodded. “Got an idea?”

“Yes, just give me a moment.”

It was clear what the boss’ ability was. Telekinesis was easy enough to see, and a particularly powerful ability that not many had in the game. But Nathan had a theory pertaining to this particular ability. Telekinesis could grab any item that lay still in the 3D space, but Nathan’s momentum powers circumvented that, as he already gave the objects a goal.

Finding the charge meter satisfactory, he prepared himself to throw. He wasn’t the best at throwing knives, but hopefully the momentum aimed in the right direction would play catch up on his abilities.

“Dogs. All of you. We may fall today, but we will not be broken. Our goals will not be broken.” The old man groaned from a combination of anger and possibly pain.

Nathan let go. The knife zipped through the air, aimed right at the man’s head. It stopped halfway through as the man grabbed it with his mind. “You dare to try use my own power against m-”

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Then the knife continued, zipping forward once again as the man thought the knife already secured in his grasp. It went clean through his hand, the handle sticking out in front as the man wobbled on his feet for a second. Another lightning bolt came, the hero capturing the chance.

And the man burned, spasming where he stood.

Audible sighs of relief came from all over the room. Looking around once again, it seemed like one or two of the heroes might be even dead.

Nathan sighed and fell on the ground, sitting as he gulped air, feeling the tension leave his body. He didn’t even think about the fact that he killed yet another man. There were simply too many in the last 24 hours.

Alicia leaned over, looking between him and where the Oni boss used to be. “You fine to walk on your own feet? After backup arrives?”

“Yeah, I still feel my legs. Just give me a few,” he said.

“Okay, everyone. It seems like the Cavalry is here. Let’s back it up. Secure all of the Onis. Meet me here in an hour,” Yukiko shouted at everyone, and the rest moved into action.

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