War is inherently chaotic, that is a fact that can be agreed among many. Its collateral is chaotic, its scenes are chaotic, even the very core concept of war itself is chaotic. War is perhaps one of the most chaotic occurences a civilized world can trigger upon themselves, an anomaly that stands against the core foundation that a unified society exists upon.

To turn against one another, to wield tools produced as the innovations of humanity and turn it against humanity itself, such chaotic action is the essence of war.

Yet at the same time, war is organized. There is a civilized, almost sophisticated element. The placement of laws in wartime, but even the organization of forces and an intelligent hierarchy of command. War is played like chess, it deploys strategy and draws from the mind. But furthermore, delving into a zoomed lens, war itself maintains unification, unification within, and even throughout in the instances of alliance.

Not only war, but most conflicts are to a degree controlled, or at the very most, organized. In fact, the moment a conflict has been thought out, the moment a plan is schemed, the moment groupings are made, the conflict becomes organized and thereby sophisticated. Perhaps to varying degrees this is the case, but nonetheless it is.

However, upon the emergence of the Tempest inside the island forest– appearing in an organized war that has raged for years with even this battle, albeit shortly announced, being strategic and sophisticated– chaos rises to the surface like magmatic flow rising up to sink the surface of beautiful natural biomes and advanced human civilizations.

In that moment of an otherworldly being, a myth, a rumor, announcing its existence in this sane world, all sense of organization comes undone, and in its place is crude chaos.

All along the open battlefield surrounded by trees, Exhumans adorned in black spandex suits with orange branch designs and Watchdogs rigged in green fiber woven suits with firearms attached to their hand turn to face the Tempest, facing a logical fallacy.

The ancient proverb, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” loses reliability in this instance. Generation S are enemies with the Tempest. The Watchdogs are enemies with the Tempest. Yet Generation S and the Watchdogs have been enemies for years, feuding on the basis of a multi century conflict. The Tempest was neither side’s friend, but neither side was each other’s friend. So what reaction does this compel?

Chaos.

Several Watchdogs turn their aim from their targeted Exhumans and instead focus on the Tempest, reminded of the terrifying rumors they heard from other strongholds and sometimes their own. Exhumans within the field also turn their attention from their targeted Watchdogs and plant it on the Tempest, reminded of very similar rumors that have kept them up at night for years.

Yet at the same time, a collection of Watchdogs and Exhumans alike remain targeting each other, choosing their priorities, and nobody’s to say who is correct.

After what comes off as thirty seconds of frozen silence, the scene resumes, but now with the added property of chaos. Watchdogs continue to gun down Exhumans but at the same time several of them fire their orange bolts at the Tempest while Exhumans continue striking Watchdogs such as one who sharpening grass to wield as needles but at the same time several others charge at the Tempest, covering their fists in metal gauntlets and firing pressurized streams of water.

A convergence of battles muddles into one as the Tempest steps away from the stray’s defeated body before absorbing a burst of orange gunfire and then strafing backwards to evade an Exhuman who slashes at him with a whip made out of dirt.

In a sense, an allied free-for-all takes place as individuals choose their opponent, ganging up on them with other individuals who have chosen the same, although some of those individuals happen to be their enemies from the other side of the battle.

To the Tempest however, he’s faced with perhaps the most undesirable situation, dealing with a combination of Watchdogs and Exhumans simultaneously. He raises his arms, projecting a blue energy wall to block another Exhuman who throws a barrage of altered blades of grass before then being shot at from behind, to which he relinquishes his right hand from the wall to fire blue bolts back.

An Exhuman then leaps at him with the agility of a tiger, pouncing on him which causes the collapse of the wall before an explosive black burst tosses the Exhuman off the ground, temporarily freeing the Tempest before a silver disk slides down to his side, releasing a magnetic coil that wraps around his right leg.

Needing to free himself while also dealing with attacks from all angles, the Tempest projects a barrel that surrounds him, covering him like a fully encapsulating wall while providing him sight outside. His right leg begins radiating blue as he overcharges it to produce the necessary oppositional force to defect the magnetic coil.

After successfully extricating himself as the coil flickers out, he abandons the barrel with a discharge that expels the nearby Watchdogs and Exhumans who were standing by the barrel to strike. He then charges forward at the crowd, projecting extensive blades that come off his arms, about ten feet long. By swinging his arms, he controls the blades, slashing groups in single motions, which causes them all to slump to the ground.

The Tempest then leaps up several feet in the air, hovering by the leaves of the trees, airborne and temporarily off the surface from the enemies. He then begins projecting cables off his body in mass supply, black ones grabbing Exhumans and blue attaching to Watchdogs alike in a circle, temporarily bewildering them.

Before anyone can realize what’s being planned, the Tempest reels all that he’s caught up towards his position before detaching the cables and boosting downwards to the ground, narrowly avoiding the grand collision of enemies that all collect themselves into a sphere before all raining down on the surface.

A herd of Watchdogs congregate within the chaos, and one of them suggests “We need to find the other units in the forest to alert them that he’s here, maybe if possible even the leader. Looks like we’ll be on a clock now to eliminate the Generation S leader.”

Several of them nod their heads, and one decides, “Okay; Nick, Zachary, you’re with me, we’ll head off to alert the other units. Come on, we got to move quickly!” He and two other Watchdogs then turn around and begin running away from the field and towards the trees across from the Tempest on their search.

Having heard the conversation among the chaos, the Tempest races forward in a blue blur to attempt to reach the three before running right over a silver disk, which wraps another coil around his leg, derailing his intervention. The remainder of the group who participated in the discussion notice the Tempest’s attempt, and they all open concentrated fire on him, which while it doesn’t damage him, the constant bombardment makes it difficult to focus on the three.

Persistent to thwart the Watchdog’s plans, he manages to concentrate on the three Watchdogs running towards the forest, and aims his right hand at them, which projects three cables and attaches each to one of the escapees.

He then jerks his right arm back, roping the three back into the field before one of them is grabbed in the torso by a huge snake built by sand and rocks, controlled by an Exhuman as they avoid the gunfire from other Watchdogs.

Revving his leg once again, the Tempest cuts off the magnetic hold, allowing him to stand up again and detaching his cables.

Among the Watchdogs still unloading constant fire on the Tempest, one of them advocates over the gunfire, “Why don’t we just send an alert over the server?? Then we can reach the leader more easily!!”

Beside the advocate, another Watchdog accepts, “Oh yeah, I forgot that was an option! Great call Kobe, you guys continue and I’ll do that.” He then stops firing from his own firearm, and brings his hand to the side of his masked head where his ear would be.

Tsking from the continual entanglement the Tempest finds himself in, he projects two curved beams of energy outward to dispel a horde of Exhumans and Watchdogs leaping and charging at him before quietly commanding, “Jamming all of their individual devices is going to be a hassle, just crash all the Watchdogs and Generation S’s servers, now!”

Echoing the Tempest’s head, the British male voice implores apprehensively, “Wait…’crash?’ Are you sure? That may become far more noticeable than if we were to just ja-.”

“Do it, I know what I’m doing,” persists the Tempest before he turns around and projects a blue wall, which blocks more gunfire as well as a flock of origami birds made from leaves. He then turns around before coils of concentrated air wrap around his arms, restraining him to receive open fire.

In the group of Watchdogs conversing on alerting the higher ups, the one who places his hand on his ear grunts before whining, “I can’t connect to the server! Maybe something’s wrong with my unit. Kobe, can you check? Mine’s always been janky.”

Beside him, the Watchdog referred to as Kobe stops firing and places his hand on his ear, holding it for a few seconds to attempt connection. Nevertheless, he disappointedly lowers his hand and admits, “Same, it’s not you. Shoot, that was our best bet! We just need to try harder to get someone out, start rounding up others!”

Unable to pursue the group as the Tempest remains restrained by the concentrated air, he watches as the group separates and members run to other Watchdogs, conversing before those Watchdogs then continue to seek out others, as it becomes clear that holding them back is becoming more tedious.

A black beam fires out of the Tempest’s chest, striking an Exhuman which causes the concentrated air to alleviate and disperse. Freed at last, the Tempest immediately focuses on the Watchdogs, watching as a massive flock of them run from the forest together in escape.

Desperate to maintain secrecy to just some extent, the Tempest begins sprinting towards the flock across from the field. An Exhuman leap on his legs and bite it, causing him to have to leap and thrash his legs around to throw them off. As he approaches the ground, blades of grass grow and move like vines as they grab at the Tempest’s limbs, to which he discharges a blast of energy that incinerates the grass, allowing him to boost forwards.

Making his way across the field, his legs become trapped by more silver disks, to which he irritatedly fires barrages of bolts into, reacting before his arms can get trapped to free himself hastily and continue moving. He runs out of the field as he projects a wall behind himself, which shields him from another flock of leaf origami birds, allowing him to make chase in the dense forest, making his way towards the flock of Watchdogs.

Moving up the center of the flock, the Tempest begins firing cables at Watchdogs farther to the side before jerking his arms back and yanking them towards him, to which he throws a punch enhanced with blue energy into their face which immediately puts them to sleep.

Observing his surroundings to be full of trees once again as well, the Tempest projects cables up on the trees, pulling himself off the ground to make himself move faster. As he swings through the forest, he fires more cables at Watchdogs on the ground and pulls them up before striking them, and allowing their bodies to rain back on the ground. Speedily dispersing the strays, the Tempest remains focused as he snatches up Watchdog after Watchdog, expecting a full victory after only needing several more seconds in the forest.

That is when he swings past the final trees of the dense region, entering a far more open space even more than the previous, as this one has a wide lane forward and far greater space in its entirety. Inhabiting that larger space is also a larger crowd of fighters, who all turn their heads upon the arrival of the Tempest in the air, floating from above down into the battlefield.

Glancing around from the altitude the Tempest has, he notices that beyond the far end of the lane, he can perceive the silver roofing of the stronghold, alluding to its nearing vicinity. While most of it is covered by a dense wall of trees, there’s no doubt that he’s finally managed to reach the main area, and thus the most intense region of the battle.

Now if only he could somehow hope that nobody in the crowd would have the bright idea of seeking the leader, who's currently nowhere in sight.

Below the Tempest on the surface, the final remaining Watchdog, Kobe, sprints out of the forest, waving his hands back and forth while yelling, “WHERE’S THE LEADER?? THE TEMPEST IS HERE, ALERT THE LEADER!!”

He missed one.

Staring down the sea of Exhumans and Watchdogs, who all face him in the air, the Tempest finds himself in perhaps the messiest situation he’s ever been in throughout the long period of this war. This was never how the operation was meant to play out.

Simultaneous amongst the whole battlefield, volunteers from both sides pick their targets, with some returning their aim back on their enemy Exhumans and Watchdogs while others raise their arms against the Tempest.

A herd of Watchdogs also begin running down the long field towards the stronghold, taking the command of the stray who managed to reach the other side. A massive flood of them move, a group far larger than the one the Tempest had to previously extinguish, all running forward on the other side of the titanic barricade separating the Tempest.

Booms and roars rage as a storm of orange bolts, electric arcs, paper airplanes made from leaves, and daggers is cast at the Tempest in the air.

A burst propels the Tempest downward, evading the initial volley, however he’s more than aware that he’s being tracked. Upon landing on the ground, he dashes in a blue trail, outrunning the following barrage as he attempts to run through the field.

Due to the narrow property of the field and the dense crowd however, there doesn’t seem to be a cheap way through. Instead, the Tempest takes the second best option, and bolts straight into the barricade, right at those firing at him.

Speed shortlived, the Tempest is quickly halted from the dense crowd, being forced to slow down as Exhumans form walls of stone to block him and Watchdogs deploy more magnetic traps by his feet, which has to be manually fired at before more can restrain him. His main targets being the Watchdogs running down the field, the Tempest perseveres forward, throwing a blazing blue punch at the wall which crumbles it from sheer force, allowing him to fire a black bolt at the Exhuman who put it up.

Every step taken is accelerated by a blue burst as the Tempest tries his best to cover as much ground in as little time, although the immense sum of obstacles forces constant pauses in movement. Projected black whips extend off the Tempest’s shoulders, slapping Exhumans down as blue bolts fire off his body at Watchdogs, dismantling the crowd to take another step forwards. His entire body begins radiating black as Exhumans grab onto his body to drag him down, using his energy as thorns to ward them successfully before he’s knocked backwards by a massive log thrown in the air, the brute force causing him to gasp for air in instant pain.

After being knocked back from his pace, more disks are dropped around him, which magnetically cling to his body, making it hard to move from other Watchdogs who grab his arms, noticing that gunfire hardly damages him and instead seeking other avenues to oppose.

Restrained further, the Tempest is unable to strike back as an Exhuman charges straight at him with a fist covered in an oversized metal gauntlet. Curling her arm back, the Exhuman shouts as she throws a punch into the Tempest’s face, knocking it sideways as he’s overwhelmed by pain. His legs become feeble before collapsing on the ground, forcing him to kneel before getting another punch across the face from the same Exhuman.

Throwing punch after punch, the Exhuman shouts, “Great, keep him down!” at the Watchdogs instinctively, temporarily relinquishing her own attitudes against them as they adequately restrain the enemy for her to deal hook after hook to.

Voices become echoey and distant as the Tempest’s gaze blurs, conscious being set adrift as his endurance weakens from the constant pummels. His lenses dim slightly as his body begins loosening, only able to see the vague figure of the Exhuman in front of him.

Curled back, the Exhuman’s arm prepares for another hook, her gloved fist closed tight as she’s ready to knockout. Just before she throws the punch, a radiating light green bolt strikes her from behind the Tempest, which immediately freezes her body in place. Several Exhumans and Watchdogs turn to her in perplexion from her pause, as the intensity is put on hold.

Her body suddenly begins levitating off the ground, rising up into the air. While at first it seems it may be another ability, her freaked screams and cries suggest otherwise, as she’s unable to control herself from gliding up into the sky like a free air balloon. In seconds she’s already above the trees with no sign of slowing down, becoming smaller in perspective the higher she’s carried into the atmosphere.

All of the enemies in front of the Tempest turn to face his direction, although looking over him as if there’s an interesting entity behind him. The Exhumans then express shock as them and the Watchdogs stagger back before they’re struck by a series of other radiating bolts with different colors, as one shot by a pink bolt begins rotating in the air and another shot by a yellow one starts screaming as though they’ve gone instantly insane.

Terrified screams shoot into the Tempest’s ear from behind as he feels alleviation from his arms which were previously clung to, and he hears the sound of metal being smashed before the magnetic coils gripping him dissipate.

His vision starting to clear up now that he’s able to recover in relative peace, the Tempest notices that a being in pure gold steps from beside him, marching in front and facing the other Exhumans and Watchdogs. On the being’s shoulders, cannons materialize as though melted gold was poured upwards from its shoulders and hardened into the shape of slim rectangular shoulder mounts. Both cannons then fire a burst of orange and black bolts at the crowd, causing many to fumble and fall.

Two tentacles emerge from the being’s back, coiling around her and in front before widening into two wide, flat golden shields which absorb a volley of projectiles dealt at her. As she takes in the attacks without a stagger, the Artificer shouts through her electric distorted voice, “Get up, Tempest! Did you forget you didn’t come alone?”

Returned to his senses, the Tempest shakes his head to clarify his perception. Realizing he’s no longer bound in place, he stands up to his feet, watching as the Artificer maintains her shields as more radiating bolts fly past both of them, striking those who are focused on the cover and fail to notice the counters.

Still dazed by the change of pace and specifically the source of the bolts, the Tempest glances behind himself at the direction they’re coming from, to which he discerns the senile man in the brown overcoat, who stands by the trees, firing his handgun out. After shooting three red chemical bolts, he exchanges gazes with the Tempest, to which a wide grin emerges on him.

“I’m always saving you, ain’t I?” remarks the Alchemist, joining in the reinforcements against the horde of armed and armored enemies.

Set back in his head, the Tempest fixes his watch back onto the sea of enemies, the ones standing in the way between him and the stronghold where the leaders would converge. He clenches his hands, absorbing the flames of drive emitted by his two allies, and sprints forward in a blue blur, once again racing through the horde.

Once again cut off from magnetic coils, the Tempest is quick to dismantle the trap before strafing to the side in evasion of another log. He then glimpses forward at an Exhuman who stands between two levitating logs, figuring it was him who was sending them.

As more radiating chemical shots fly past the Tempest to take out combatants, the Artificer advances forward with her shoulders as her hands morph into cone-shaped launchers with grated surfaces. She then leaps forward, launching herself high up in the air as her shields are moved to the side to expose herself, and emitting a bright golden flash which absorbs the attention of many Watchdogs to her.

After swaying concentration onto herself, the Artificer rains down barrages of bolts from her arms as darts shoot out of her shoulder cannons, which fly with their own golden energy trails, curving in the air before striking a target and causing a contained explosion.

With less arms facing him, the Tempest starts to move faster with fewer hiccups, able to clear through smaller crowds of obstacles and thus travel through the field at greater pace. He weaves past an Exhuman who throws his fist covered in rocks before the Tempest then jumps and spins, roundhouse kicking the Exhuman in the face with a black flashing leg.

He then continues racing forward towards another Exhuman who takes in a deep breath and blows an immense stream of pressurized air at him. Leaping up in the air, the Tempest evades the stream of air and projects two blue cables off his hips which attach to Watchdogs firing at the Artificer beside the Exhuman. Using the two Watchdogs as anchors, the Tempest reels himself back down to the ground while projecting a black energy blade from both hands, and swinging them over each other right as he impacts the Exhuman.

After landing on the ground, the Tempest abandons the black blades, and the two Watchdogs beside him turn in noticing his sudden appearance. They both raise their arms, but both are shot by a lime green bolt, which causes both of them to fall backwards on the ground and begin yelling, “WHY CAN’T I GET UP?!” as though they suddenly were weighed down so greatly that their own bodies couldn’t be supported.

Freed from the immediate counters, the Tempest continues forward, reaching halfway through the field and continuing. He leaps over a few magnetic traps, spinning in the air with a projected black whip as he smacks three Exhumans to his side before landing back on his feet and continuing down the field.

Far behind the Tempest, the Alchemist steps forward, treading ground cleared while remaining cautious due to his own mortality. He continues in a careful walk down the lane, firing more shots beside the Artificer who remains in the air, concluding her barrage as her arms revert back to their original shape. She then soars forward as another volley of explosive darts fire out of her shoulder cannons, spinning in the air as they seek targets.

Three forest green shots fire out of the Alchemist’s barrel before he also begins sprinting forwards to the best of his ability, his overcoat waving in the breeze as he huffs from the tiresome exercise he must endure.

Advancing ahead, the Artificer soars down the field, her shields moving independently to protect herself from orange gunfire from Watchdogs. Her arms morph once again as her hands reshape into long barrels resembling a rifle, which she then aims at the Watchdogs and fires blue bolts back at to put them down.

Both of her shields then swiftly cover her front, which then absorb a barrage of small physical projectiles. After the burst ends, the shields move to her side, allowing her to perceive the attacker. There is little difficulty to that however as rather than being muddled in the ground with everyone else, the Artificer stares down at another Exhuman who levitates up in the air at her altitude, twenty feet away.

Surrounding the Exhuman across from the Artificer are seven rings of petite rocks, which spin at rapid speeds around her as though in orbit.

Staring through the flat face, the Artificer quietly mutters to herself, “I’ll bury you with those drugs back in the ground where they belong,” before she then flies towards her. Her shields become slimmer as they move back in front of her, shielding her as the Exhuman throws her arm forward, commanding a volley of rocks from her rings to fly in a stream.

The stream of rocks bounces against the Artificer’s body as her arms remorph into shorter, wider barrels with a more rectangular shape, which she uses to fire a rapid round of black bolts with such speed that the golden barrels heat up.

In defense the Exhuman shields herself with her arms, which commands the seven rings to reposition into more of a solid wall which takes the full force of the round. Several rocks become wholly incinerated from the round, however the Exhuman holds out for long enough to deploy countermeasures as she throws another stream back.

That stream is evaded as the Artificer strafes in the air, and then dashes straight at her, reverting her right arm to regain her fist, which is thrown straight at the Exhuman.

Right before the fist contacts the Exhuman’s face, all of the rings change rotations, as rather than being lined up like a hoop they all take on diverse rotations which form more of an orb around the Exhuman, shielding her entire body. Now the Artificer’s hand is met by the rapidly spinning rocks, which drill through the golden knuckles with ease like a saw, grinding the top half of her fingers before she pulls away.

Strafing back to recover from the damage while also strategizing a counter, the Artificer reverts her left arm as well while golden veins begin extending over the divots in her fingers, swiftly filling her fingers to regenerate herself in a fashion similar to crochet, sowing her own body back together before it’s entirely recovered in only a few seconds.

After forming her strategy, she throws her left arm forward, detaching all five of her golden fingers, which fly past the Exhuman. All five of the severed fingers then expand rapidly, with a myriad of golden wires extending out in four directions as the center expands outward with spiraling wires that become denser, forming the basic structure of a humanoid with the four clusters of fires becoming limbs. The wire humanoids grow a head from wires as the finger becomes the chest until the wires become dense enough that they form their own shells. The humanoids then move independently as the specters awaken, all surrounding the Exhuman.

Concurrently as the Artificer aims her right hand at the Exhuman, so do all the specters, to which they all fire concentrated beams of yellow energy from their palms at the Exhuman in the center. All of the dense yellow streams incinerate the rocks, quickly decimating entire rings which is helped by the quantity of projectors.

Hoping to endure the rain, the Exhuman remains in place, unable to retaliate as she’s being overwhelmed. She watches helplessly as each being shreds an entire ring, leaving only one left protecting her at a sharp angle diagonal to her figure.

Once the six rings are destroyed, all of the specters dash towards the Artificer as they each collapse, being reabsorbed into their chest, shrinking down as wires coil back within, exposing the wiring of their chests while also reeling back their limbs. All five specters morph back into the initial fingers, which then fly back into the Artificer’s left hand, reattaching to her.

Now complete, the Artificer swoops up above the Exhuman, and aims her entire left hand at her, firing another concentrated yellow beam of energy on her final ring. She then begins flying straight down at her as she fixes her beam on the rock ring, incinerating individual rocks as she burns the entire ring in seconds.

Her left hand lowers and her right hand raises, and the Artificer throws a hard punch right into the shieldless Exhuman, which vents a black flash that causes the Exhuman’s body to also flash black. The Exhuman plummets to the ground limp, bested by the Artificer who observes her body fall to the grass. She then raises her head down the field, and takes off.

Halfway through the field, the Tempest battles through a dense legion of Watchdogs and Exhumans alike, having once again gotten ahead of the other two and left to deal with the obstacles mostly by himself. He projects long black blades to ward off Exhumans and forms blue walls that absorb gunfire from the Watchdogs before then shoving the wall into them.

Unable to dash, the Tempest instead walks through the horde, pushing against them as he tries to reach the runaway Watchdogs seeking the fortress ahead. Time is of the essence, and the Tempest throws his arms to the side, which both flash black to knock out Exhumans by his side before he advances several steps forward.

Multiple silver disks slide by his feet, ensnaring his ankles once again in magnetic coils. Further halting him, the dirt around his feet begin to rise off the surface in dense packs, which mold around his knees to hold him back.

Realizing he’s bound and trying to fend off the attackers, the Tempest curls his arm back to throw another punch, but before he can an Exhuman leaps on his arm, clinging onto it. The Exhuman’s body then seemingly melts around the points his body contacts, that being the Tempest’s arm and the ground, which holds the Tempest back from advancing.

He reaches his other arm to try ridding the Exhuman, but that arm is then wrapped in magnetic coils projected from a silver disk held by a Watchdog, realizing that by holding it with his hand it can reach the Tempest’s arm.

Additionally to entrap the Tempest, an Exhuman behind the Tempest manifests a small cloud of dark smoke around him, part of which twirls into concentrated streams that move forward and wrap around the Tempest’s shoulders, holding him to the cloud.

A Watchdog also summons a metal barricade behind the Tempest which reaches the height of his lower back, and on the very top edge of the barricade he then places two silver disks, which release magnetic coils that pull on the Tempest’s back.

Joining the fray, a different Exhuman also behind the Tempest holds his hands out, revealing that extending off his palm is rapidly growing strings of skin which quickly becomes long enough for his fingers to wrap around. He then throws his arms forward, to which the strings of skin elongate speedily, long enough that it goes over the Tempest.

Right as both strings pass the Tempest’s neck from each side, they curve towards each other, and the two strings join together to become one rope. The Exhuman then jerks his arms back, which causes the rope to get stuck on the Tempest’s neck, beginning to choke him. The Exhuman maintains his pull as the Tempest’s immobility deprives him of any way to relieve the tension, forcing himself to be strangled.

Facing the Tempest, an Exhuman drops his jaw to open his mouth widely and silently blows air which in turn begins to vibrate. More air in front vibrates, creating a cascading effect in the air that has the vibrations crawl to the Tempest’s torso.

The vibrations pull on the Tempest’s body, barely tugging at him. Beside the vibrating stream, another Exhuman raises his hands and claps his hands towards the stream, which emits a pulse of translucent cyan energy that seeps into the stream, causing the vibrating air to then also emit a translucent cyan glow. The vibrations strengthen as now the Tempest can feel himself being pulled harder forwards, causing the tension from all directions to make it impossible for him to move in even one direction. Ganged up on in the horde, the Tempest can only remain in place, growling in discontent as he can’t move any part of his body.

Once again reaching a deadlock, the Tempest thrashes his head back and forth as his body begins radiating blue to try freeing himself. As his body glows brighter, a red translucent ball of energy flies towards his him, but rather than striking him like a projectile it then expands, forming a hollow red sphere that encloses his body as well as the melting Exhuman, whose body hardly resembles a human being as it’s more or less become a slime.

The red sphere then reshapes and hardens with more defined edges, becoming a rectangular box that contains the Tempest.

Across the Tempest, an Exhuman steps forward, his hands held out forward revealing a small rectangular box composed of red energy hovering between his hands, a miniature version of the one containing the Tempest, as he seems to have been the one to manifest it.

The Exhuman then moves his hands onto the box, slowly bringing his hands together against the box’s walls.

Simultaneously, the red cell containing the Tempest begins to shrink, the walls closing in and the volume reducing. The Tempest immediately perceives the nature of the ability, and comprehends the danger he’s in. For before him, the miniature representation of the cell also starts to contract, being crushed slowly in the Exhuman’s hand as the cells too begin to crush the Tempest inside, becoming too small to properly accommodate him.

Unable to move an inch of his body, the Tempest helplessly endures the ceiling as it pushes down on his head and the walls close in against his shoulders, discomforting him as he can feel the walls now against him.

But that wasn’t the full scale of the Exhuman’s intention, as he continues to crumble the box, intending to condense it down until it withers the man inside too. Further compressing the cell, the Exhuman watches gleefully as the entire horde play their part in the slow, tortuous annihilation of their enemy that has haunted them since the dawn of the war.

Roaring out in pain, the Tempest stands against the closing walls, feeling his bones slowly getting crushed as he has no way of freeing himself, as he’s been truly trapped, yet so close to the stronghold, as he can see its roof from where he stands over the treetops.

So close to completing the final operation, so close to bringing an end to this turmoil, so close. And yet, so far.

A huge pink fireball drops from the sky and collides with the ground in blurry speeds, which releases a heavy discharge of pink electric arcs that fly in all directions before dissipating, clouding the impact zone in smoke between the Exhuman controlling the cell and its prisoner.

All of the Exhumans around the collision react befuddled with tilted heads and raised eyebrows, as even the Exhuman controlling the cell freezes his hands, pausing on crushing the target. Instead, his attention shifts to the smoke cloud in the center of the horde, a cloud that flickers pink light.

As the cloud gradually dissipates, two bright pink lights pierce through the smoke like eyes, glaring down at the horde. The cloud flickers pink again with pink sparks surrounding it. The silhouette of a being appears in the cloud as the smoke scatters, to which it's discernable that the sparks are emerging from the silhouette itself as more appear.

At last the cloud is entirely dispeled, revealing the figure standing inside. An arc of pink electricity sparks out of its shoulder, which is adorned in white fabrics that have a hood which is laid down, decorated with cartoon sprinkles colored pink, purple, red, and blue as well as decals of icing textures. Long, silky strands of pink hair wave from the head of the figure, reaching down the back of the being with few in the front, unkempt yet naturally relatively smooth.

Below pink bangs that lay over the figure’s fair forehead, a pair of glowing eyes glare straight ahead with white pupils and a horizontal white arc that splits straight the iris through the pupil, which sizzles and dances like lightning.