High above, flying higher than the trees, a figure descended. Behind him, the massive red planet hung in the sky, the light of the sun reflecting off his armor. It wasn't just a backplate and breastplate with pauldrons like the others wore, but a full suit of medieval-style knight armor, seamlessly blended with cybernetics and machinery. A steady blue light emanated from the helmet's vision slit.
On the ground, Niata slowly pushed his body up, his breath shallow as pain surged through every joint. He looked up at the figure in the sky, his gaze steady despite the blood tracing paths down his face.
With a surge of effort, he rose further, his right hand pressing against the scorched earth to balance his trembling frame. His body shook, unsteady. His left arm hung uselessly at his side, the forearm bent grotesquely inward at an unnatural angle.
Then came the sound, sharp cracks of bone shifting, the wet grind of flesh realigning. It echoed faintly in the silence, an eerie, organic chorus of injury reversing itself. His wounds pulsed, then slowly began to seal, skin tightening over torn muscle with unnatural precision.
"Toro…" Niata said, his voice shaky. His stance was still unsteady, as though he might collapse again at any moment, but his face lit up with a bright smile.
The masked man landed softly in front of Niata. "Straighten up, will you?" A voice, a synthesized fusion of Toro's and Conscior's, came from the armored figure. It was Toro.
"I'm sorry I'm late, Niata," Toro said, his synthesized voice calm and steady. "Before flying here, I had to make some adjustments to the armor."
"Yeah... I can't say I didn't expect you to come," Niata's shaky voice began to return to normal. He walked towards Toro and, using his good right arm, grabbed his broken left forearm. With a series of grotesque, crunching sounds, he forced the bone back into place. The arm was fixed in an instant.
"Been watching you," Toro said, the synthesized voice letting out a light chuckle. "And I have to say, you did terribly."
"Yeah, right. The armor looks sick, though. I see the adjustments you made." Niata paused, his expression hardening. "But why didn't you go and help Blake and Neo? I can heal naturally, but they can't. They might be bleeding to death."
"No need to worry. They are fine," Toro stated flatly. "You were the one in the most danger, about to become a permanent part of the crater."
"Toro is right!" Conscior's distinct, more upbeat voice chirped from the armor, layered over Toro's.
VHOOM. A vibrating sound appeared out of nowhere. Neo and Blake landed right behind Toro. Neo was supporting Blake with her left arm, slowly letting him stand on his own.
Niata's eyes widened. "You guys..." he yelled. Toro also turned to look.
"Glad you're not dead… I can't afford that," Blake said with a stoic, huffing voice, while he balanced himself with both hands on his knees.
Neo stared at Niata for a second. "There is nothing left of your cuirass and your pauldrons are completely decimated. Your Tyroni suit is damaged also, yet you don't have a single wound." She blitzed around Niata, scanning his body cartoonishly.
"I'm fine... I healed," Niata responded confidently, though he was startled by the monster slowly approaching them. It was completely unharmed, and the earth rumbled as it walked.
"Healed by..?" Neo asked, her eyes wide with confusion.
"My body... is different," Niata whispered, looking at the ground. Though that one hit was brutal and ate away most of my armor and a bit of my skin, that beam it was charging would have decimated me.
"Hhhm? So what happened to the monster?" she asked, turning her attention to the smoke ahead.
"It's undamaged," Toro said, his gaze fixed on the approaching threat.
Blake looked at Toro, a look of complete confusion on his face. "Who are you?" he asked.
"Toro," the armored figure responded while looking at the approaching Derivative, his own expression hidden by his helmet. "The monster is extremely durable. Expected, from a low level three equivalent."
"Professor Sanchez's biological son, you know," Neo whispered to Blake in a low voice.
All of them quickly shifted their focus to the Derivative. Its flaming arm transformed rapidly, extending into a long, sharp blade of black fire. Neo began to fly high into the air, as did Toro, her body pulsating with a blue aura.
A ray of energy, the same iridescent material as her wings, formed in her right hand. It rapidly shaped itself into an axe with a long handle and a massive head, a great axe glowing with spiraling rainbow colors.
"Let's do this!" she yelled.
"Okay, that's even more epic," Niata said, his eyes widening in awe.
Her Cursed Ability allows her to form wings to fly and an axe, he mumbled to himself, staring into the abyss of his thoughts. Highly likely she can form different weapons. It looks like it has the same properties as her wings, too.
"Niata, watch out!" Toro yelled.
Niata snapped back to reality just as the monster's blade arm sliced down towards him. Toro yanked him away by the arm, pulling him into the trees ahead. "No time to phase out of reality, Niata!" Toro yelled.
Niata landed on his feet. The veins on his forehead pulsed, and his ears twitched. He clenched his fists, a turquoise aura radiating around him. Ahead, everyone was a blur of motion, red, blue, and silver rays zipping around the monster.
Toro blitzed right in front of the monster and punched it in the gut. It was pushed back slightly, yet no damage was done. "Umbrage is corrosive, but at this stage, it's not corrosive enough to eat away at Conscior's special material," Toro whispered to himself.
High above, Blitz jumped, launching a beam of red energy that completely engulfed the monster's face. As he began to free fall, the monster instantly slashed upwards with its blade arm. Toro dodged, but the blade continued towards Blitz.
A violent slash cut through the air, and Neo intercepted the attack with her axe, cleaving the monster's arm off. At the same moment, Niata rushed in from behind, double kicking the back of the monster's legs. As it started to fall backward, it balanced itself with its tail. Niata slid under the monster just as the severed arm, which had fallen to the ground, dissolved into smoke and a new one instantly grew in its place. The monster quickly repositioned itself.
It formed a black orb of energy. Niata appeared right underneath it, jumped, and delivered a powerful uppercut with his arm brimming with turquoise energy. The mouthless beast's head was redirected towards the sky, and a beam fired from its eye, shooting instantly out of the planet. In the deep darkness of space, it exploded, a violent, silent vibration in the abyss, not visible from earth.
The monster instantly rotated and smacked Niata away with its tail. He was sent flying, and it easily repositioned itself behind him mid-motion. Before it could do anything, a beam of blue light fired by Neo struck it from behind. Toro caught Niata and flew down with him.
Blitz appeared right in front of the monster as it turned to face Neo, who was suspended a short distance away in the air.
"One million degrees," Blitz whispered. "Since we can't just attack your core, incineration is the key: DESTROYER FLAME!"
Blitz shouted as he unleashed a beam of bright red energy, completely engulfing the Derivative. The beam shot down to the earth, covering a huge portion of the forest. The red light reflected in Blitz's brown eyes. In a town further away, people saw a brief, intense red light in the distance that slowly disappeared. They stared for a moment, then continued with their deeds, unbothered.
Niata's eyes were wide as he watched the devastation. Though the "one million degrees" was whispered, I heard it clearly. What insane firepower. If it wasn't controlled, it would have destroyed way more... but a million degrees Celsius? He looked down at his own hands. I didn't even feel it. Controlled heat, or an exaggeration? Regardless, if that's what he can do... this is clearly not my fight. His fist clenched so tightly the knuckles strained, his hand trembling.
The Derivative fell, covered in smoke, crashing down where the energy beam had destroyed part of the forest.
The Guardians gathered at the edge of the impact zone. There was still smoke, and the monster wasn't visible. "You should be careful. You're killing animals here," Neo said, looking at Blitz with a frown.
"It's either us or the animals," Blitz replied, stoic as ever, his stone-serious gaze fixed on the cooling smoke.
Toro scanned the area, his helmet's sensors active. "It's moving. The great force damaged it," he said.
Niata gave Blitz a thumbs up with a smirk. "Good."
Suddenly, a beam appeared right in front of them, a black beam erupting from the smoke. It rushed towards them at an incredible, blinding speed. They couldn't react. Before they could do anything, a flash of light covered them. From above, the flash of light was visible as it instantly covered the entire forest. It spread out endlessly, a blinding white light that bleached the world of all color.