Crusader University

Chapter 16 Acceptance

"You guys... aren't strong enough for me anymore" I said, as I left the people I knew best, my friends, behind.
"Elijah..." Austin groaned in pain, after I frankly kicked his ass
"You don't need to do this" he tried to say
"You don't get to tell me what I do and don't need to do" I said finally, swinging off towards the broken down pizzeria.
Thanks to my friends, I was late to getting there before they did, so this time I had to go guns blazing. I kicked down the door and scanned the situation, there were two men to my left, each with guns, and 4 straight down the middle. I immediately got shot at by a few hand guns, but I let them hit me, a few shots went through me but it'll regenerate, so I'm not worried about it right now, a little bit of pain won't kill me. I threw a smoke bomb down and immediately rushed at the first guy on the left with a strong right hook, that knocked him out cold the men in the middle fired wildly through the smoke, shouting in fear. The other man on the left surprised me, he held up his hand, red energy pulsing from it, but I grabbed him by the shoulder and created a blade that stabbed through his shoulder, and through the wall behind him, keeping him elevated. He screamed in pain, but I'm not messing around this time.
"You stay right here" I murmerd to him
The other 4 men kept firing their guns but I just walked through it all, and used my shadow dash to appear behind them, I bashed two of the men's head together, knocking them each out and then the other two dropped their guns, raising their hands.
"RUN!" Shouted the man I had stabbed earlier.
But I wasn't letting them get away, I used my tendrils to grab onto their ankles they fell to the floor with a crack, and I simply tied them to the floor, I didn't wanna waste my energy. I turned around and slowly walked to the man I stabbed
"Are you gonna tell me what I need to know, or am I gonna have to cut the rest of that arm off?"
The man swallowed in fear, thinking of his next words carefully.
"I'll tell you...but you can't tell anyone I gave you information"
"Won't say a word" I said, motioning a finger to my lips.
"Where's Red Smoke at." I demanded
"I know you know, so how about you do me a favor and tell me"
"Okay, okay, he's in a base only us higher ups know about"
"I'm guessing the higher ups are the ones with powers?" I asked him
"Yeah, and you got lucky, I'm only the weakest one"
"But, you said he's expecting me?" I said, getting back on track
"Yeah, he's heard all the stories about you, and he knew who it was immediately"
A part of me expected this, but I guess I couldn't fully believe it.
"Where is this base?" I said taking the blade out of his shoulder, he let out a scream and said
"The base..." He panted through the pain
"It's in a warehouse, right in Rio de Janeiro, in front of Christ the Redeemer" the name caused a stinging pain in my head as I once again remembered Alex.
"Thanks, for the help" I said to him, cracking him straight on the nose, knocking him out cold. I wrapped his shoulder in some gauze I had in my utility belt (What? I was trying to scare him with that stab not kill him)
I finished wrapping him up and realized the energy on my hands haven't gone away
"My fight isn't over yet" I said in my head. And I swung all the way to this so called base.
I watched as the sun began to rise above the statue that has forever cursed me, the scene looking exactly as it did the day he died. I landed at the front door of this warehouse, Immediately I could tell there were about 13 people in there, each one was about as powerful as a high level pro hero, a let out a sigh of annoyance, realizing this was gonna be a long and annoying fight, I gave my neck a little stretch, and I opened the door. Dead. Silence. The only sound I could hear was the stomp of each step I took, and the only thing I could see was the stretch of a long hallway. But I was on high alert, I got closer and closer to the end of hallway, I could practically feel my adrenaline rising as I got to the end. One step into the room that lead from the hallway, and immediately a punch was thrown at me, I caught their fist and hit them with a judo throw to the floor, he was wearing a suit, and a bird shaped mask. I looked up and saw 12 other people, about 8 men and 4 women, all wearing suits and different bird masks, how creepy. But, I bashed my fists together and prepared for this fight, 4 of the bird men each flew at me at high speeds grabbing me by each 4 of my limbs, holding me down as the others proceeded to punch and kick my body, each hit smacked against my body with a crack. I screamed in pain and the energy on my arms began pulsating, the Oni's mouths opening realizing a monsterous tonge, and immediately I felt a bit stronger, probably around 3 times stronger than earlier. I managed to kick both of the men holding my legs off and got to my feet, I yanked my arms back and as soon as they let go I let out a relentless barrage of punches at a man with an owl mask, each punch connected but it only stunned him a bit. It was at this point I realized this fight was gonna last a lot longer than I expected. 12 hours. I fought for 12 hours, punching and punching, each opponent stronger than the next, I just kept going despite the odds, I didn't falter, I persevered. I stood there, 13 bodies on the floor, I stood there one fist in the air, my armour completely destroyed and bloodied beyond comparison, panting, completely out of breath. The energy wore off my hands as I fell straight to the floor, still awake, but just resting. I rested there for about 30 minutes, just trying to catch my breath because of my regeneration, I can gain my stamina back really quickly so I only really caught my breath for a few minutes and just lied down to relax for the rest of the time. I then noticed a shape on the roof, I squinted at it, trying to make out what it looked like, then I realized it was what looked like a letter. I stood up and grabbed it using my tendrils to reach all the way up there, it was stuck to the roof with a little piece of scotch tape, and it must've gotten there after my fight, because everything else in the room was destroyed, how else would the letter be there? The letter read
"Meet me on the roof if you survive" in red ink, with the neatest handwriting I've ever seen.
"That's it?" I said to myself, throwing the letter on the floor. I opened the door of the building and finally left, I watched as it was already night time, thunder striking the skies above, as it prepared for a storm. I realized that everything I've worked for, every hit and stab I've taken, all my cultivated rage and pain all lead up to this moment, and I was shaking with rage. I felt my knuckles tighten as I slung shot myself to the top of the building, at first I saw nothing up there, but through the flashes of lightning, I saw him. He was standing there, his cape blowing in the wind, as the rain began pouring, more and more.
"No words for me?" He called out, back turned my direction
"As if you deserved any."
"I've been waiting for you" he said, trying to continue the conversation
"I knew you'd make it to me eventually. I've been waiting to see your true strength" he said, trying to explain himself
"Oh cut the shit, if you knew I'd survive then that letter would've been in the room before I even walked in" I spoke up
"But no, you wanted me to die, because you found out I've gotten too strong for you. You're afraid"
"You dare even suggest that!?" He said turning to me, outraged.
"It's not a suggestion. I know it's the truth, if you wanna prove me wrong, then fight me."
He shadow dashed directly into my face, but I just stared up at him, his costume was different, he was completely coated in black armor with red entrails, a red helmet and a flowing red cape.
Before I could react, he hit me with a sucker punch and immediately followed up with a 3 punch combo that I couldn't even get to react too, he grabbed me by the back of my neck and kneed me in the gut two times before hitting me with a powerful strike to the face that sent me tumbling back. I was dazed and my vision reddened, I tried to push myself off the floor, I tried to get up with all my might but he kicked me in the ribs, cracking them. No this can't be happening right now, after everything I've been through, all my training, all my battles there was still such a big gap in our strength. No. I'm not loosing this, not this time. The energy in my arms turning back on, and I was immediately hit with a wave of rage. Red Smoke tried to kick me again, but I managed to roll out of the way, and jumped straight to my feet. He threw a hard right punch, I ducked under it and counted with a strong left,
"Crack!"
A perfect shot, red smoke was completely dazed, now it was my turn. I began hitting him with everything I've got, lefts rights closing the distance red smoke tried to make to get away from me, he tried to hit me back, but all I did was dodge under it and continued wailing on him I couldn't be stopped. I pushed him all the way to the edge of the building before he summersaulted completely out of the way, and he was back in working order. This time he unsheathed his weapons, his machete and crowbar, each covered in Hypnos back goo, I instinctively created my blades and attached them to my hands.
"You got tricks too, huh?" He said, almost amused.
"More than you can know" I said
He swung his machete at me, but I shadow dashed behind him, ready to slice at the back of his ankle, I missed and sliced the cape off his back instead, it fell to the floor silently landing on a rain puddle. I caught a crowbar to the face, this really dazed me, it felt like I had ran head first into pure titanium, Red smoke grabbed me by my ankle and slammed me to the floor below him, and started jumping on me, each landing caused me to scream and cough up blood, craters forming below me. The blades on my hands faded away as I grew too weak to keep them there, as I felt my recently regenerated ribs now broken again, and now my right arm was completely shattered, but I still stood up, red smoke seemed shocked, I just charged at him with my left arm, and we clashed my one arm pushing against his two, then I felt my right arm start to regenerate, so I used it to punch him right in the face, shocking him I jumped straight in the air, and shadow dashed behind him, drop kicking him, then I shadow dashed below him, hitting him with an uppercut that sent him flying upwards, before he could get a chance to react I created my tendrils and wrapped it around him slamming him side to side putting huge craters into the roof, I then yanked him towards me, then with one mighty blow, I sent shockwaves throughout Brazil, finishing red smoke for good, he rested there on his knees panting, as I retracted my tendrils. Staring at him like that made me angrier every memory of pain I experienced flashed into my head, the sleepless and foodless nights, the fear he put onto me and my family what my hatred and wrath for him made me do to myself. I locked both of my fists together over my head and bashed his face in, he screamed in pain, but I just kept hitting him
"LOOK WHAT YOU TURNED ME INTO!" I roared as I beat him, blood flying across the entire roof top,
"ALL OF THE PAIN THAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH!" Another smash
"Enough" he tried to beg
"HAVEN'T I SUFFERED ENOUGH!" I said, my hands dripping with blood as his face deformed more and more
"Monster" he said weakly
"Look who's talking" I said, as I raised my fists one more time
"Stop, please no more" he tried to say, his voice worn out from screaming
I didn't stop. With one final punch I took his life. I stared at my hands, soaked in his blood as I stood there on that rooftop, the Redeemer standing over me, lightning flashed over it's face, rain washing down it's eye as Christ wept, I thought about the Bible verse I saw that night, the night he died.
"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good"
I failed, I'm no better than the Bible that was left to wash away in the rain, it's pages falling apart as I myself deteriorated in a mix of my descions and wounds, I grabbed the cape I cut off on accident, and wrapped it around my suit, I took my mask off and just stood there, watching over the city, my city. These people were saved, but at what cost? I'm no better than him, I killed a man and I will never forgive myself for that. But then I saw him, a green light, a green sign of hope, Austin was here, Phoenix and Jayden right behind him. They knew what happened, apparently there was a news reporter covering the fight, but I was so focused, I had no idea. They all approached me and I sobbed, I was so incredibly tired, I just want it to stop, everything to stop. I then I passed out, I slept for days, I can almost remember slight memories of a jet, and Justin's face looking down at me
"Jeez he looks messed up" I could hear him say
"Let's get him home" he said finally.
I woke up in my dorm room, all the way back in DC, I was completely shocked and confused, but I could care less, I felt amazing and even stronger, I mean I was strong earlier don't get me wrong, but I was running off maybe 30 minutes of sleep and half a beef patty, my first thought was to see what's going on in Brazil, I loaded up my computer and searched
"Major events going on in Brazil" there's a whole festival going on right now, celebrating their freedom from Red Smoke and his mafia, as a matter of fact they're making a whole holiday
"Dia do Diabo da Justiça" I couldn't believe it, they made a holiday about me. I got up fully and took a very well needed shower, once I got out I went downstairs, and saw Phoenix and Jayden training, I tried to ignore them because I felt terrible, I've been such a shitty friend to them, and I wasn't sure if I could forgive myself, but I didn't need to, they greeted me with open arms. And for the first time in 3 months, I was truly happy again.