Tides Of Protomis CXXXVI

The Swift vs The Master of Gravity

Epsilon found himself slamming into the ground once more, and demolishing it as a result. He didn’t come out undamaged, if the cracks in the white outer layer that covered his body told him anything. It seemed that this battle wouldn’t be as simple as he initially thought. There was some sort of unseen force keeping him from staying on the course he’d initially set, but what was it? He shot off into the sky, to probe his opponent’s defenses, and figure out just that. But his lightning quick charge, was once more, narrowly redirected by the Yakuza. Who surfed the wave of gravitons, to once more attempt to slam a fist into the general.

But epsilon was not so unprepared on his second go, managing to shift himself out of the way, and slam his head into Jirou’s chest once more, sending him back into the inner reaches of his gravity bubble. The man clutched his chest, ignoring any such pain.

“So he figured out that attack plan quickly, But that’s just fine, there are other ways I can attack you…” The yakuza began to think back to his battle with that demon, Ghemzaan, and how he utilized that dome attack, the same on which he’d copied for his own. If he were to ensnare the general in this rotating wheel of gravitons, and include particles to rip and tear through his body as well, he could very well stop the attacks fired at him entirely.And, as such, he began to do just that. The revolving wheel began to shrink in size, up to a 10 feet radius around him at most. And it seemed that his opponent was none the wiser, as he charged in once more. His attempted attack went out of his hands almost immediately, as the Demon began to note the control he once had over his lightning quick movement had disappeared, replaced with a rush of force pushing him in one direction.

“Dammit, He has me under his influence?!” The second stage of Jirou’s plans came afterward, a rush of small particles, dust, sand, stones, and whatever else he could grab, were placed into the wheel posthaste, and flung at the General constantly, from the opposite direction, slowly but surely, beginning to crack an shatter the Quadraped’s outer layer. The situation was not good, but he could not allow himself to lose. He was a part of a proud demonic species, one known for its incredible speed. As its very last Scion, and as one of Maleggan’s seven generals, he could not lose here, He WOULD not lose here…

“Do not think for a moment that this temporary advantage you have will last. The Banner will spread across Ixis, and all of this realm, and the Denizens of it will see us as the strongest. And mark my words, the world you call earth will be next!” So that was this one’s motivation. Jirou wasn’t exactly a Historian, or anything of the sort, but this kind of person. Or rather, demons seemed to be a feature of both of their worlds, if what the three Mhy’de siblings told them was anything to go by. He was never one to lecture others either, after all, even if some of the more unsavory acts were not committed, he was still the son of a Yakuza chairman, one with his own personal sub-family at that. But there was just… Something about this one that irked him.

“Listen up and Listen good, This goal that you’re looking for is bound to fail. And there’s a reason for that. We’re here, and we’ve decided to take you all out. From the countries you emboldened to invade others, all because you nearly wiped out their opponent’s militaries, to the civilians you yourself killed, a lot of lives were under threat. Your goal of being seen as the strongest will not happen either, as you’ll die here, against me!” As jirou made his declaration, the amount of gravitons increased even moreso, the youth having to put more and more of his effort, his focus, into keeping the storm of particles around him going. But how long could this attack be sustained was the question. If he burned through all of his energy at this moment, it wouldn’t bode well for his chances of victory. But to put down the barrier was also out of the question. Unless he acted very quickly, and created some distance between them the moment he did. Yes, perhaps that was the solution. Gradually, he began to decrease the amount of force exerted upon his opponent, something which was noted immediately. Epsilon made his move to get out of the ring of force, but Jirou had already stepped into melee range, Putting increased gravity over his elbows, as he began to batter and bruise the demon, continuing to damage his already cracked outer shell.As the damage continued to build, so did his rage.

Did this human think he was some sort of prophet, that he was some sort of weakling? Had killing Sigma and Gamenna truly made them this big headed, so Arrogant? Some hits landed, and he’d forgotten how much damage he’d done with his first attacks alone? His blood boiled, as his eyes squinted, and the luminance around him burned brighter once more.

“It is time to show you the difference between us, human!” Before long, he found himself grasped by his spines, courtesy of Jirou once more, and hoisted over the humans shoulder, as he began a rapid descent to the ground below, with a rapid increase of downforce But apparently, the demon wasn’t exactly going down without a fight, launching his back leg toward his opponent, and slamming it into his cut. But Jirou was undeterred by this, only slamming another strike into the creature’s head, and kicking its neck, two strikes that took their toll, before he drifted above, and drove his foot down upon the quadraped’s back from above, quickening their already quick descent. Until the two combatants cleaved through the ground like a spear, sending out tons upon tons of rock flying in all directions, and promptly taking the two to a different environment.. Some sort of underground cave. Itself, lined with crystalline stones. Jirou’s and Epsilon’ eyes both noted this change, but they could not focus on something so trivial, not at this moment. Jirou leaped out of the way, letting Epsilon continue on his flight to the ground alone, throwing his palm out once more.

“Gravity Well, Formula 90!” In a short time, the demon was finally pinned once more, now, unto the stone floors of the cavern. But the youth knew well that this wouldn’t be nearly enough. Supplementing his technique with the gravity only further increased, and the walls of the cavern brought into the well he’d created, intent on crushing the creature underneath. The effects of which were seen almost immediately, as the cave began to tremble, and the various pillars of earth keeping it stable began to shake out of place, no doubt a result of the destabilization. But either way, this only served to help in his goals. The Yakuza began to float, flying through the roof, and driving his fist through the ceiling, as he rushed to the surface, exiting the cave-in with little effort. As he loomed in the sky above, he looked down to where his opponent was apparently trapped, and began to create another gravity well, one with a larger radius than the one before, causing the ground to implode, a massive crater, and mound of rock, dedicated to keeping the enemy general where he was.

“Will that be enough?” Jirou queried.

In the darkened prison that was the mound of rock, Epsilon’s rage only continued to grow, and grow. If that technique had done so much damage to him, then it was time to end this foolishness, here and now. Strangely enough, he no longer stopped his white outer-layer from chipping off. Instead, feeding his “Engine” so to speak, with more and more demonic energy, with his body changing as a result. As the size of his body grew, and all four of his legs grew longer, and thicker. And what was underneath the outer layer, Ivory skin, was revealed. A flare up of demonic energy flew outward, as he destroyed the rock which formerly held him back, and slammed into Jirou’s torso, within milliseconds, or perhaps, even less than that. The youth’s torso folded like a crescent moon, as a veritable river of blood flew from his lips, and he was launched off into the distance. Crossing many many miles in under a moment, a boom, and powerful tremor, let everyone who happened to be in the area know of the crash landing. And if not that, then the rapidly expanding crater, which Jirou lay deep within.

As he slowly got to his feet, he attempted to process just what had happened to him.

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“What the hell just happened?! I couldn’t even sense his movement!” Before long, standing above him, at the very edge of the crater, was the General himself. Who himself, changed greatly in his appearance.

“Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.” Jirou thought.

Part B

Within the Demonic Legions, the effects of the battles going above them were pronounced, and certainly affected how they’d moved. What was once a defensive fortress had been turned into rubble, a direct result of a burst of air pressure, forged by Zeta. As such the defenders found themselves trying to hold back a rolling tide of the invading troops, and try as they might have to fire from afar, it seemed as if this district of the city was already lost.

The fortress’ commander, an Ivhmmk, dived from above, grasping one of the enemy demons within his talons, and launched him into the enemy force like a bowling ball, breaking up their formation in short time. But the winged demon found himself joined by another who appeared more human-like, a green-haired demoness.

“Orders from up top, We’re pulling out!”

“As if! I won’t let myself lose to weaklings like th-” However, the demon’s words were silenced, as another presence seemingly jumped out of the building to his side, The Vashyr known as Stolas. Who demolished the demon’s body entirely, within moments, at that. The commander slid to a stop as his feet touched the ground, and he shouted out.

“Stolas the great has arrived, prepare yourselves for your end!” He shouted, and with glee, he began to dash forward, his troops following him, with bellows and war cries resounding through the now abandoned streets…. The battle itself was messy, and there was no clear way to tell who would be the victor in this case. As the results, or even the trends of the battles themselves varied… He needed to wind this, Hashimoto Jirou knew that much, but whether that could be done or not was another question. He began to push his body upward, getting onto his knees, and pushing himself further up from there. But before he’d managed to get fully upright, he was already made the receiver of another charge, which sent him flying back, and another, which shook his frame, as he was sent to the sky…

By this point, it’d have been a less difficult task to count what bones of his WEREN’T broken, then were. Whatever the nature of this new form was, he hit hard, and he hit fast.

“I can’t take too many hits like that… Five at the most, and that’s being generous. A delaying tactic still seems to be best here. And with that in mind, he attempted to construct a ring of gravitons around him once more. But epsilon had already rebounded, and prepared for another attack.

“I won’t let you get even a moment! I don’t know how you did what you did early, but I won’t make the mistake of letting you do it again!” In a short time, Epsilon was near Jirou once more, but the creation of the ring had already been set in motion, and it grew around its creator, largely stopping the attack, or at the least did for a moment. As the quadruped demon sped through the barrier, and grazed Jirou, nearly landing another devastating strike. While it seemed to slow him down a bit, that surely wasn’t enough, especially given that his opponent was already returning. Jirou acted quickly, increasing downforce just in front of him, and making his opponent barrel to the ground, or at the least, that was hot it should’ve gone. But Epsilon had already changed his direction, and barrelled right toward Jirou once more. Charging him, and breaking his body once more.

4

Another charge came next, and the Yakuza tried to halt him once more, with a stone broken off and placed in front of him, but it did not get nearly close enough to do anything of the sort, and his frame was shaken once more.

3.

And another…

2…

As the General stopped where he was, and prepared to launch yet another attack, he found that something else had gotten in his way, a launched lance of demonic energy, which drove into his side. Causing his gaze to shoot to his left, where he saw one of the very humans he’d seen upon returning to the city, who did not stop there, launching many more toward him, and forcing him to change his position, time and time again. As Jirou’s blurry gaze moved in the same direction, he took note of just who it was.

“Junko… That stopped him, just for a moment… But in this case. That may be all I need. It's time!”

Though the damage was done, the human was already pulled back into her own battle, and stopped interfering with theirs… It mattered not, this human was on his last legs.

"It's over, admit it... Your incursion into this realm has failed, you shall die here. You cannot defeat my speed Prepared to be crushed like the insect you are.."

Jirou frowned at this statement, this arrogance… But regardless, there was something he needed to do. This idea for a technique, it was always experimental at best, something that seemed just out of his reach.

“Creating that level of gravity is hard enough. Maintaining the level of mass even harder. Even so, I have to do this!”

Epsilon readied his “Ignition” Once more, and prepared to charge at the human, and end this, once and for all… But Jirou’s focus was elsewhere, as a sphere of gravitons in his left hand was made denser, the field of gravity, more intense… And now came, what he’d applied from the demon known as Ghemzaan. Though his enemy, that battle had taught him much… The demon began to charge forth, but Jirou’s focus seemed unbroken, even as the distance between them closed rapidly.

"Now!" He yelled, opening his hands, and slamming them together, stopping Epsilon in his tracks.

"What the?!" Epsilon yelled in his confusion.

Soon enough, the space around Epsilon seemed to warp, as the hold on him was, strangely enough, released. The demon took no time at all to leap toward Jirou. But, even so, the man did not change his position, as the gravity kept building and building behind the general. Until a small black sphere appeared, one that began to grow, one that barely reached the size of millimeters… The general looked upon this with a smirk.. Or rather, he would if he had the ability. Was this all he could produce-

This thought was cut off, as he felt his very existence begin to be torn apart. Pushed and pulled, Compressed, and spread. Nothing felt like it was where it was supposed to be.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Epsilon questioned.

In the midst of all this, Jirou's expression stayed the same.

"You can look down on us all you want. But that won't change your fate... YOU will be crushed like the insect YOU are!"

The creature’s body began to wrap, and stretch, as the sphere around him began to grow larger, and a black light radiated around it. Jirou continued to compress it, more, and more, until, he shouted outward,

"SINGULARITY!"

Epsilon was pulled further inward, and inward, as the rapid destruction of his body only continued to grow faster. Before the rapid changes grew too much to bear, and he screamed out into the heavens, as he was pulled into the singularity’s embrace. Marking the end of general Epsilon…

As the attack dissipated, Jirou began to fall to the ground, bereft of stamina, and worse for the wear. As his back touched the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. He huffed, trying to catch his breath as best he could… It was a hard fought battle, but a single fact remained, he was victorious.

“Looks like I’ll be stuck here for a while… But it looks like I'll be stuck here for a while.” But how his allies were doing in their battles was a question for him as well… However, the man found himself surprised, as his body was hoisted up from the ground, and he looked around in surprise, only to see his body now flanked by two men wearing stark white uniforms, ones he recognized, without a doubt.

“They’re here already?” He thought.

“We have medical supplies at the forward base, we’ll take you there for the time being!” Well, he wasn’t exactly opposed to that. But he could still very much stand on his two feet, even if he could definitely feel the wear and tear from battle from doing so.

“Alright.. Take me there.” With that said, he began following the two, as the city of Zylsis itself found itself facing yet another invading force, the rapidly approaching holy order troops.

To Be Continued