Neo
The boy awoke with a gasp, shooting straight up and reflexively grabbing the nearest thing as tight as he could. That nearest thing happened to be Kelsie's arm, and when she let out a sharp gasp his eyes instantly shot up to her face - bringing him to his senses and prompting him to remove his grip.
"Where-..." He'd meant to apologise to Kelsie, but his mind was moving so quickly and so instinctively that the moment passed before he'd even realised it "Where is-" He was struggling to get his words out, panicked gasps escaping him as he tried to speak.
Neo looked around, finding Synthia and Axel standing over him - concerned looks on both their faces - while Quinn and Daigo stood a little further away, peering down at something on the floor.
"Where's Zuro?! And Kayla?! And Noah?!" He asked, a sickening feeling building in his stomach as he realised they were missing his two best friends; as well as the most dangerous man on the planet.
"Neo calm down." Kelsie said, as Synthia laid a hand on his shoulder comfortingly "Noah and Kayla are fine. Nexus is dealing with Zuro right now." She told him simply - like that would answer all his questions.
For a second Neo though he'd heard her wrong.
"Did you say Nexus is dealing with Zuro?" He asked incredulously, pushing himself to his feet suddenly and unintentionally knocking Synthia's hand away from his shoulder. That was when he realised exactly where they were. On a random rooftop high above street level.
Neo moved over to Quinn and Daigo, realising that they were staring down at the street below rather than just the ground as he had initially thought. He let his gaze join theirs in watching what was happening below - finding Zuro and Nexus locked in a rapid whirlwind of combat, almost too quick for him to perceive.
He stared, mesmerised, as his brother singlehandedly held off the biggest powerhouse that had ever existed. "What-...how is he doing that?" He said aloud, as Daigo and Quinn didn't so much as glance in his direction.
"I don't know." Daigo muttered, his fists clenching and unclenching anxiously at his sides "But look at him. How the hell did we manage to beat that?" "Because 'that' was a cocky façade more set on toying with us than actually finishing the job." Quinn answered, her expression like steel as she refused to give even a single emotion away "Him down there is the real Nexus. The one who takes his opponent seriously."
"Yeah..." Was all Neo could really add to that. He tore his eyes away from the fight down below, instead turning back to Kelsie, Synthia and Axel as he looking around at the other surrounding rooftops "I'm guessing there's a reason but someone better explain. Why are we not down there helping him? And also, once again, where the hell are Kayla and Noah?"
"Kayla woke up in a frenzy." Kelsie explained, standing up a little woozily as she steadied herself of Synthia's shoulder. Neo expected Axel to be the one who helped his girlfriend out - but the man seemed too deep in his own thoughts to even notice her.
"She said there was something she had to do. But she needed Noah to take her there. As soon as the boy woke up, she explained it to him and they both disappeared. That's all I know." She finished, letting out a deep sigh as she ran a hand through her brown wavy hair. Neo noticed Kelsie's features twitch ever so slightly, like she was in pain, but just as he was about to ask about it the girl started talking again.
"As for your other question. We're not helping Nexus because he told us not to. He was extremely clear about it. Until he gives a signal, we do not help him." She said firmly, like there was no way she was gonna let the others argue the case.
This was a new side of Kelsie that Neo hadn't seen before. The sweet, naïve girl that he had met back in her apartment had changed into something else. He didn't know if it was just everything that had happened with Zuro...or if there was something more going on under the surface.
"My question is, why the hell are we obeying orders from that psycho?" Axel spoke up suddenly, his irritated tone drawing the attention of everyone on the roof "We know what Nexus is like. He's tricky, and smart. And a cold-hearted bastard. I have no idea what his plan is by taking on Zuro, but I still get the feeling that obeying his every word is going to end with us getting fucked over one way or another."
"You're one to talk about fucking people over." Neo stated, his fists clenched tight as he thought back to Axel's beam hitting him - still not the least bit willing to move past it. "I know you don't like me Neo." Axel fired back without hesitation, his mouth a thin line of stone "But don't let that distract you from the fact that I'm right. You really think Nexus has had a sudden change of heart and wants to help us?"
"No." Neo said at the exact same time Kelsie exclaimed "Yes!" Both boys forgot their quarrel for a second as they looked at the girl with scepticism. "You two weren't there when that 'change of heart' took place. I was, and I trust him." She said with an air of finality.
"You'll trust anyone Kelse-" Axel began, only to be cut off by his girlfriend a half second later "Don't you dare talk to me like I'm some airhead! I have been right beside all of you through everything that's happened so far! I know what Nexus has done. And I know how many chances we've given him. But trust me when I say that he's on our side!"
"Kelsie..." Synthia said quietly, finally speaking up after silently observing the argument going on around her "...we do trust you." Then, turning to the two boys "At least I do. I believe her."
"Well I still don't." Axel said, crossing his arms in a childish way, while Neo chewed his cheek in quiet contemplation. If Kelsie was right, this could be the thing they needed to turn the tides of this battle. Hector even said it; the two things that would give them their biggest chance of success were the Zuro Killer and Nexus. Now they almost had those two things in their grasp...but if Kelsie was wrong - if Nexus was waiting for the chance to kill them, trusting him would be like signing their death wish.
"You guys?" Daigo suddenly said, interrupting their three-way conversation as he turned to them, white as a sheet "Get over here. Now." His tone made the four of them move without question. A second later they were all lined up along the edge of the rooftop, staring down as Nexus was subdued by a mass of red tendrils while Zuro laughed his ass off.
"Shit. Whatever his plan was, it's failed. I'm going down there." Neo announced, getting ready to shadow warp to his brother's aid. "No, Neo! Don't." Kelsie said sternly, grabbing his arm as Neo looked at her incredulously "I mean it, Neo. He told me no matter what happens no one is to go down there. 'Even if I'm about to die', he said. Trust him." Although, even as she said it Kelsie's uncertainty was clear through her voice.
"So this is it then?" Axel asked, sighing as he accepted defeat "We're trusting him?" Neo considered it for a second, watching as his brother was slowly strangled to death by Zuro. He turned to look at Quinn and Daigo, who stood both completely stoic as their gazes stayed locked on the scene before them. "Quinn? Daigo? What do you two think?"
"I don't know anymore." Daigo answered, his words squeezing out through gritted teeth "Whatever you say we do, I'll trust it." "What he said." Quinn muttered, barely audible - though Neo was able to make it out.
The boy knew his mind was already made up. Being wrong would be the death of them all, yes. But from what Neo could remember from before he'd lost consciousness - Zuro had practically killed them all already. If they were still alive, it was because one man had come to their aid. He didn't know how, and he didn't know why, but he knew that Nexus wasn't doing this as some sort of 'move'. Neo had wanted his brother to fight on the same side as him for as long as he could remember, and now that day was finally here.
"We're trusting him." He stated simply, loosening his fists as everyone on the rooftop fell into a silent understanding. All of them stood there, watching Nexus with a tiny, newfound spark of hope - praying that he somehow had something hidden up his sleeve.
And thank God he did.
The silence remained as Nexus blasted his way free of Zuro's grip, tearing through his wings and tendrils before sending him flying an unbelievable distance into one of the nearby buildings. Some members of the group wore stunned expressions at the feat Nexus had just pulled off. Neo, however, simply let out a deep sigh of relief, before quickly starting to drag his friends away from the edge of the roof and into a sort of huddle.
"Come on. We need to get down the-" "ALL OF YOU, ON ME NOW!" They heard Nexus suddenly bellow, as Neo couldn't help but roll his eyes. "I'm guessing that's our signal." He muttered, before turned around so that the group could shuffle together - back to back "Ready when you are, Daigo."
"On it." The man replied, before a shell of icy crystal rapidly began to grow around them all, until a second later they were transported down to right beside Nexus. The ice had barely even shattered before Nexus began barking commands at all of them, and thanks to their trust in Neo they all moved without hesitation - not giving Zuro a second to gather himself.
When the others had all ran off to fight the beast, Nexus turned to Neo with a slightly solemn expression on his face - seemingly upset about something that Neo had missed. "Alright Nexus." He said, not dwelling on his brother's dip in mood since there were quite obviously larger things at stake "You got any ideas on how to kill this bastard?"
"Yeah...I got a few ideas. But first of all, where the hell are Leon and Doctor Who?" Nexus asked, looking around as though the pair were lurking somewhere. Neo scowled at his brother's choice in nicknames. "Kayla and Noah have some other business elsewhere. I don't know what it is, but I trust-"
"Other business elsewhere?!" Nexus repeated incredulously, almost letting out a laugh at how audacious the statement was "I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a fucking maniac we kind of have to kill."
"Yes you're right Nexus, I'm sure Kayla forgot all about that!" Neo snapped back, already irritated after maybe a minute of talking to his brother "Listen, if she says it's important then it's important. Now do you plan on fucking helping me in the slightest or will I go try a few of my own ideas?"
"That seems to be going well so far..." Nexus muttered snarkily, enjoying the look of slightly embarrassed fury that crossed Neo's face "Okay, so from what I could gather...Zuro's basically invincible. That skin of his doesn't even crack no matter how much force you use against it. I'm talking about on an atomic fucking level, by the way, so what they're doing-" Without even turning his head, Nexus pointed straight at the group of Neo's friends - currently locked in combat with a blinded Zuro and miraculously managing to stay alive due to his handicap "-is going to get them all killed again. We need to try something different."
"Like what?" Neo asked, entertaining Nexus' monologuing in order to hurry him to getting to the point. "Either we find a way to kill him without touching his skin, or we find something that can break the skin. And I think the former is much more likely to happ-" "I can break the skin." Neo interrupted, nodding his head faintly as he thought back to the earlier stages of the battle "But only with a certain power. I blasted Zuro's throat to pieces not too long ago. It was honestly easier than I expected."
"Okay..." Nexus stated simply, his brow furrowing in thought. It was slowly becoming clear to him why Zuro had referenced this 'special' power of Neo's so many times. "...okay, that helps. So, why can't you bring the power back?"
"If I knew that I'd be able to work out some way around it. I'm doing the exact same shit as when I activated it, but this time it just...isn't working." Neo was trying not to let slip how utterly demoralising it felt to admit that. He had so many people relying on him, and he felt responsible for every single one of their lives now that he'd brought them to where they were. And yet, with so many people counting on him, he still couldn't muster up the strength he needed. Maybe Zuro was right. He might just be a weakling after all.
"Well then make it work." Nexus said harshly, his words snapping Neo out of his train of thoughts like a whip "What were you thinking of when you activated it?" "Um..." Neo thought for a second, trying to envision himself the moment before the power awoke from inside him "Kayla had just given this big speech. About giving our lives to kill Zuro. I was thinking about her...and her words. And the fact that she is literally giving her life away every time she uses those damn powers just so we stand a chance at beating this guy."
Nexus nodded thoughtfully, not interrupting Neo until he was finished with his re-accounting. "And what were you thinking of when you tried to bring them out a second time?" Nexus asked, though he felt like he could sense the answer coming.
"Zuro." Neo responded, hate filling his voice as his teeth gritted together "About everything he's done. About everything he wants to do. About how I'm going to kill him no matter what it takes, and about how goddamn angry I get when he-" "No, no, Neo you fucking dumbass." Nexus cut him off, cringing in irritation at what his brother was saying before dropping a truth bomb right on top of him.
"Every single fight you've gotten angry in, you've lost."
Nexus gave his words a second to register in his brother's mind, before continuing "Take it from a guy who's fought you firsthand nearly a dozen times. You think it makes you powerful - and you're right, it does. But it also makes you predictable. Embarrassingly so. Think about it Neo. The first fight we ever had - our apartment. You nearly took the fucking building down on top of us, but you lost. The park, after Zuro got into your head-"
"I beat him to a bloody pulp." Neo tried meekly to defend himself, but Nexus merely shook his head. "Zuro didn't even throw a punch. He'd got what he wanted - he was writhing in his victory, watching in enjoyment as you went ballistic. And knowing it would torture you afterwards. If he'd entered his true form there and then we would've all been done for. Even the time you came to my fucking house, to convince me to join you. You've got some goddamn power in you Neo, and you're a half decent fighter, but your anger makes you easy. It always has, and it always will."
Neo grew silent, letting Nexus' words churn through his head. It wasn't true...was it? All his life, Neo had known he could fuel himself with rage. Even before he fully understood his powers - what they were, or where they came from - that was the one conclusion he had come up with on his own. Anger correlates with power. But perhaps his brother was right. He may have been looking at it wrong the entire time.
He opened his mouth to respond, about to admit the possibility that he'd been wrong about himself, when a quiet crackle of electricity cut him off. Suddenly Noah and Kayla were there, standing not two feet away from the pair of brothers.
"Well it's about damn time! Leon for someone who's powers are supposed to revolve around speed, you are slow as fuck." Nexus said overly obnoxiously, making Neo, Kayla, and Noah nearly pop a vein in each of their foreheads. "Great to have you with us Nexus, now shut up." Kayla said, closing the distance between them. Both boys looked like they were about to question what she was doing as she held her hand out in front of her - that is until a bright light shone from her palm, flashing for a second before dissipating away to reveal the Zuro Killer held loosely in her grasp.
It was shorter than Neo had seen it previously, but he didn't say anything about it; knowing full well Kayla was in her 'I talk, you listen' mode. "I'm assuming the reason you two aren't joining the fight is because you're discussing ways to kill Zuro. Yes, his skin is impenetrable to all but two things. Neo's powers, and my sword." She spun the weapon in her grasp as though to show it off, somehow already fairly adept at wielding it "Which means from this point on, it's all about supporting those. The sword has power in it but I'm still little old me. I need help to get close to Zuro, and to keep him from killing me. Until Neo figures out his powers this is the best chance we've got. Nexus, I assume you've got some other tricks up your sleeve as well. Use them. And don't get distracted by Quinn."
"I never get distract-" Nexus tried to speak but Neo cut him off "Alright, that's a good enough plan. But do you mind telling us where you were? We could've killed Zuro by now, what was so important you had to leave us?"
"I'll explain later." Kayla said, and that was that. "For now we really need to get back in the fight. In the other timelines it usually takes about ten minutes for Zuro to get used to being blind. And when that happens..."
"ARGH!" As if right on cue, one of their friends cried out in anguish as Zuro's claws tore straight through their arms. The four of them turned as Axel hit the ground, clutching his arm as the others did their best to hold off Zuro while Kelsie rushed to heal her boyfriend.
"Time's up. Move!" Kayla commanded, and without any hesitation the four of them took off in a sprint, throwing themselves back into the fray.
As Neo ran he felt a hand place against his shoulder, and in the next second he was falling from a few feet in the air - the back of Zuro's tattered wings directly below him. Without even looking around him he brought his hands high above his head, clasping them together and forming a churning mass of darkness that he swung straight down on top of Zuro.
An explosion of bright light erupted from somewhere beside him at the exact same time; but when both blows fell Zuro was no longer there. Neo's attack had hit the ground and demolished all the concrete in a good few metres radius. The bright light from beside him similarly hit nothing, but travelled about forty feet directly ahead - a trail of shining white crystal surrounding by buzzing electricity left in its wake.
Neo didn't know whether it was Noah or Daigo who had mustered the attack, but when he turned his head he saw Kayla standing there instead; her sword embedded in the ground at the precise point the trail of electrified crystal began.
Holy shit, he thought.
It felt good to know that crafting the sword was a worthwhile investment. He knew he'd have to give Hector his thanks later.
Zuro, despite his blindness, had somehow sensed the attack coming from behind - and darted a solid ten feet to Neo's right just before it fell. That move, however, had brought him face to face with Nexus - whose palm shot straight into Zuro's face and caused the demon's body to lurch violently backwards, nearly snapping in two at the force of the blow.
As his head snapped backwards, Zuro lashed out with a kick in Nexus' general direction, however it swung widely over the man's head as he ducked down and moved in close for another shot. His hand sliced down heavily in a move akin to a karate chop right onto Zuro's chest, the blast from his powers sending the man firing straight down into the ground and embedding him three feet in the road.
"Kayla, quick! You-" Neo half-turned to look over his shoulder right as Kayla shot straight past him, moving before he'd even opened his mouth. Her sword slashed silkily down at Zuro as he lay there, but the demon's body contorted rapidly to avoid it - his head tucking down into his chest at an unnatural angle as the sword sliced past where his neck had just been.
Zuro threw both hands behind him and fired duel beams right where Kayla had been, forcing her to block it with her...shield? Neo stared in awe as the sword she'd been holding a second ago merged seamlessly into a shield, then into a long, sharp tipped lance that she thrust down mercilessly on top of Zuro.
The demon rolled onto his side as the lance shot towards him, swiveling magically in mid air to change its course as though it were chasing him. The tip of his wings planted into the ground and bent inwards for an instant, before shooting back up and propelling Zuro into the air - avoiding Kayla's attacks entirely.
He flapped his wings as he shot thirty feet into the sky, but thanks to Nexus' previous attack they were in no condition to keep him afloat for long. Zuro, however, wasn't trying to stay afloat. He curled up slightly in mid air, flipping so that his top half pointed straight down - before he plummeted straight towards the ground, his wings providing him enough control so that he could aim where he was going.
And it seemed that 'where he was going' was directly on top of Kayla.
Neo was already running to intercept it, but he knew Zuro was falling too fast for him to do anything. And it seemed the same was true for Kayla herself - still trying to retract the lance back into its sword form.
What happened next took place in a three second flash before Neo's eyes. A large red beam crashed straight into Zuro's side as he fell, knocking him off course from Kayla as he was forced to emergency land. As he did, however four metal spears with an arrowhead-like tip pierced through his wings from the back, the spike at the top extending out like an umbrella which clung to the flesh and tore it to shreds. Zuro wasn't deterred however; ripping his wings free form the spikes in a spray of purple blood as he shot straight for Kayla once more.
The girl tried to step backwards out of the way, but Zuro was moving too quick for her to effectively dodge it. Noah suddenly materialised behind Kayla, yanking her back by her collar roughly just as Zuro's claws shot out towards her face as quick as a flash.
There was a tiny sprinkle of blood left behind as Kayla teleported away with Noah; and in the next instant Neo began frantically looking around for the pair. He found them about ten steps away, his pupils narrowing as he saw Kayla's face covered in a sheen of blood, her hand holding it tightly as Noah spoke to her in hasty concern.
She brushed him off, already running once more as Zuro scowled in disappointment at his near-miss, before turning to face Kayla once again. This time, however, there were a few people standing in his way - all coming to Kayla's aid.
"Vermin." Zuro spat the single word, his empty sockets somehow managing to lock on the row of fighters, formed of Daigo, Synthia, Axel and Quinn. "Look out!" Kayla shouted, morphing her blade into a spear as she hurled it straight for Zuro.
The demon rolled to the side as the spear passed by his shoulder, before exploding into a thousand sharp shards of ice and metal. A wall of red tendrils formed between Zuro and the explosion, as the shards all somehow only exploded in his direction.
The tendrils were torn to shreds by the shards, but Zuro was quick enough at reinforcing them to stop himself from being gravely injured. As he cowered behind the barrier, the four in front of him took their chance to attack.
Daigo was first, throwing both hands forward and launching a surge of spiked crystals outwards from his palm. Zuro rolled to his side once more to avoid them, but suddenly found himself pressed against a solid metal wall.
Synthia had conjured a box around him, rapidly condensing it down as Quinn muttered the word "Zema." and threw an asteroid of fire directly into the box. Zuro was hit dead on, convulsing under the heat and pressure of the fire, as Axel and Daigo fired beam after beam of their respective attack into the man at the same time.
"MOVE!" Two voices shouted at once - one from Nexus and one from Kayla - as the pair collided with Zuro's four attackers in a desperate attempt to protect them. A shoal of red beams suddenly burst from Synthia's metal box and flew towards the group - moving sporadically and irregularly like a firing squad all pulling their triggers at different times.
Quinn screamed in pain as her side burst open, a stray beam burning its way through her flesh as it narrowly missed her organs. A dozen others would have hit her too, had Nexus not thrown her to the ground and set up a wall of air to protect her, his face filled with genuine concern as she clutched her side and writhed on the ground.
Axel - having no way to protect himself - suffered a beam through the calf, falling to one knee as another tore through his shoulder; before Kayla leapt in front of him and blocked as many as she could with her shining shield.
Daigo was left to defend himself. He threw up a wall of crystal right in front of him, watching as the faint flashes of red collided with it at odd intervals; slowly cracking and smashing their way through. He cursed loudly, trying to reform the barrier right as the first attack broke through and fired cleanly past his head.
After that, he was forced to block the beams on his own - raising his crystal covered hands and starting to batter them away as quickly as he could - his barrier rapidly being reduced to no more than a strong-standing hurdle to protect his lower half. He dropped to his knees behind it, using one hand to continue deflecting the beams as his other touched the barrier and willed it to grow taller and stronger, even as the beams battered it relentlessly.
Neo watched it all happen as he sprinted towards the group - a second later than Kayla and Nexus. Synthia was taken by surprise by the beams, only managing to conjure a half-formed metal shield before the beams tore it to shreds and bore down on her. Her body was still coated in the toughest metal she could form, allowing her to take more than one hit without being torn apart, but she screamed in pain each time one of them collided - the sheer force behind them obliterating her skin and fracturing her bones.
It was clear her armour wasn't going to last. After the first three hit her on separate spots - breaking her ribs, collarbone and kneecap - she knew the metal would be done for in the next hit she took, so she did all she could think of and fell into a curled up heap on the ground; waiting for the next collision of unbridled agony.
But it never came.
Trembling in pain as she lay on the ground, Synthia managed to bring her head up ever so slightly to see who had saved her from the beams. It was exactly who she expected - the boy she'd fallen for and the one person she knew would be there to protect her whenever she needed him to.
Neo had thrown up a black barrier in front of both of them, keeping his hands pointed firmly at it and reinforcing it ever time one of Zuro's beams threatened to break through. "Synthia! You alright?!" He shouted over his shoulders, keeping his focus on the wall of darkness to ensure the onslaught of beams didn't get the better of him.
"Y-...yeah! I'm alright!" She shouted back, though she knew that wasn't the case. A flash of electricity suddenly went off in front of her, as Noah materialised right between her and Neo. The boy reached both arms out, grabbing a hold of the two of them, and an instant later they were far down the street; finally a safe distance away from Zuro's relentless frenzy.
Nexus
"For fuck sake. Even blind we barely stand a chance against him." Nexus said the second he materialised in front of the group, his arms wrapped around Quinn as he helped her lean against his chest.
The man had noticed what Noah had been doing while Zuro kept them all pinned. He was collecting them one by one and bringing them a safe distance away in order to give them a short moment of reprise - and short it would definitely be.
Nexus didn't wait for Noah to collect him and Quinn. He wanted to keep Zuro busy while his eyes were still unhealed, but Quinn's injuries had made him reevaluate and he instead went for the safer option.
"Kelsie, heal everyone with injuries as quick as you can. Anyone who can walk, with me." He commanded, eyes scanning the bloodied band of misfits as he lay Quinn gently down on the ground and locked eyes with her for a split second.
Neither of them spoke for a second or two, until she mumbled a quiet "Thank you..." through teeth still gritted in pain. And against all the odds in the world, Nexus managed a smile.
Without another word he turned on his heel and began walking back towards Zuro, who stood in silence - no doubt trying to heal his eyes as quickly as he could. Nexus was shortly joined by Neo and Kayla, who stood on either side, then Daigo and Noah on the outside of the line.
"Kayla, you're doing alright but we need you to land a hit if we want to finish this. Neo, judging from the fact you haven't gone super saiyan yet I'm assuming you've not figured out your powers. That's fine, but hurry the fuck up. Leon-" Nexus paused as his gaze turned to look at Noah, watching as the boy struggled to keep up with the others and visibly panted for breath.
"Wait." Nexus said suddenly, stopping in place and bringing the whole group to a halt with him "Leon. Noah. Sparky. Are you...tired? What's the matter with you?" "Noah's powers wear him down. A lot." Neo leapt in to defend his friend - though from the way Noah was breathing it didn't seem like he would be able to muster up a response of his own.
"You're shitting me." Nexus stated bluntly, waiting for one of them to tell him it was a joke "I mean...really, you're shitting me right? You have the power of electricity. In the middle of a goddamn city. Just fucking - I don't know - absorb something." He watched Noah with disappointment, but the panting boy merely flipped Nexus off as he did all he physically could to catch his breath.
"That's it. The city's power station is three miles that way." Nexus said, pointing with his finger straight through a building on their right "Go there and throw yourself in it. Take fucking everything it's got and then some. If you feel guilty about it you can give some of the excess power back after the battle's done, 'kay?"
Nobody said a word.
Noah looked speechless at what Nexus was suggesting, and both Neo and Kayla were staring at him incredulously, like it was the most bat-shit insane thing they'd ever heard. Daigo didn't seem too surprised, however. "I mean, it makes sense." He muttered, backing up his former best friend.
"If you die Kayla will just rewind time and stop you from listening to me. Think about it, you having some extra power in you might just tip the tide of this battle. You've been damn useful so far but if you're gonna be this tired every time you use your fuckin' powers then what's the point? Trust me, kid." Noah scowled at Nexus' choice of words, and though he still looked hesitant it seemed as though he was slowly coming around to the idea.
"Okay." He breathed, his eyes slowly building with newfound determination "It can't hurt to try. Just know that if it kills me, I'm coming back to kill you." Noah pointed a finger at Nexus accusingly, but the man looked the picture of innocence. "If you die it will be a noble sacrifice." Nexus assured him, grinning faintly at him "Now hurry up. If Zuro grows his eyes back neither of us will get the chance to kill each other."
Noah shared one last looked with Neo and Kayla, both of his friends silently wishing him luck for what was to come, before he gave one single nod and disappeared with a crackle of electricity.
"I think it could work." Neo said once Noah was gone, quickly walking after Nexus as the man returned to his stride towards Zuro "But I've been wondering...Zuro's healing powers are extremely fast. So how the hell have his eyes not grown back yet?"
"You'll have to ask him yourself." Nexus said candidly, flashing the tiniest of grins at his brother "But if you want my guess, I'd pin it on the fact that eyes are a lot more complex than the rest of him. Growing back wings, well they're pretty much just sheets of flesh, aren't they? And a limb doesn't need to be fully functional for him to use it in a fight, so growing them back is no bother. But eyes are hard. He can't half-ass growing an eye. Everything needs to work in order for him to see, and lucky for us he's probably never had to grow one back before."
Neo couldn't argue with that logic. In the best case scenario, Zuro wouldn't be able to grow them back at all. If they were lucky that might just be the case, but only time would tell.
The group fell into silence as they slowly sped up their pace, approaching their foe as he stood menacingly still at the end of the street. "Neo, is there any chance you can create an absolutely tiny, condensed explosion? But one that has a delayed trigger?" Nexus asked his brother, ideas churning through his head as he mentally prepared for the next stage of the fight.
"Um...maybe, yeah? How small?" Neo replied, making his confusion obvious but not questioning it regardless.
"Tiny. Like a pea. Or as close to it as you can get. Give it to me, and when I give you the signal I want you to detonate it." Nexus commanded, speeding up into a light jog as the others all kept pace with him.
"Okay." Was all Neo said, starting to conjure a churning ball of darkness about the size of a tennis ball between his two hands. It slowly grew heavier and heavier, yet smaller at the same time - as Neo filled it with as much destructive energy as he could while simultaneously compressing it like Nexus asked.
"Daigo. How strong are your crystals nowadays?" Nexus asked his old friend without even looking at him, as Daigo thought for a second.
"Stronger than the last time we fought. But their strength is still linked to how close I am to them. If you're thinking of trapping Zuro with them, I'm going to need to pretty much make direct contact with him." He answered, reading Nexus' mind perfectly.
"Then do that. I've tried to slow him with my powers but he moves too quick for me to get a good grip on him. Right now though, that's the aim of the game. Restrict his movements so Kayla can get a clean hit. There's only four of us, so if you get injured you better stay on your goddamn feet. Follow my lead and listen to what I say. With any luck we'll finish things before the others get the chance to grab a share of the glory." Nexus told them all with a small hint of amusement, though that quickly died as he realised how close they were to Zuro.
"Here, Nexus. Put it to good use." Neo said to his brother, handing him the tiny condensed orb of darkness - just a little larger than the pea-size that Nexus had requested. The older man nodded appreciatively, tightening his fist around the orb as he slowed his pace to a complete stop just a short distance away from Zuro.
Up close, Nexus noticed that the white of one of his eyeballs had returned to its socket - though it still appeared that he was unable to see through it. That was bad, though. Nexus was surprised at the progress he'd made during the short break in action.
"Did I manage to kill any of them with that last attack?" Zuro asked amiably, talking casually as though he was in the middle of a catch up with some all friends. "Oh well." He said with a wave of his hand, seemingly answering his own question "I'm sure they'll come running back to their deaths soon enou-"
Nexus was off like a flash, firing a wave of air straight into Zuro which the man let strike him dead on, forcing him to stumble back a few steps. It was followed up by a slice from one of Nexus' palms, aiming to decapitate the tip of Zuro's right wing. The wing shifted in a flash, however, blocking the attack with its spike tip which held firm despite Nexus' atomic-thin slash.
Zuro spun with unprecedented speed, his leg arcing sideways as his heel attempted to smash straight into Nexus' head. The man raised his clenched fist just in time however, tanking the hit with his reinforced forearm only for Zuro to batter him roughly with the full span of his wings and send Nexus sprawling backwards in surprise.
Before Zuro could go for him on the ground, Neo took his turn attacking the demon - black fists firing out in every which way and colliding with different parts of Zuro unbreakable body.
"Don't let him talk! That eye of his is nearly done healing, fuck him up NOW!" Nexus shouted, rejoining the fray the second he was on his feet as him and Neo traded blows with the towering powerhouse.
"Well, would you look at this." Zuro spoke giddily, a wide grin on his face even as he focused on deflecting and dodging both Nexus and Neo's hits "The two brothers, finally fighting on the same side. How does it feel? Do you feel close to one another?"
Nexus scowled, suddenly sliding under Zuro's wing to attack him from behind. The man laughed tauntingly, his wing striking out at Nexus as one of his hands caught Neo's fist - dragging him forward as he drove his elbow straight down onto his neck. Neo crumpled under the blow, barely managing to form a barrier in time as the sheer force of it drove his legs out from under him.
A flash of light suddenly zoomed towards Zuro's arm - the one holding Neo in place - and as the man tried to turn to avoid it he found his foot frozen to the ground by a mass of white crystal. In a split second decision he released Neo, yanking his arm backwards as Kayla's sword slashed upwards right where it had been a second ago.
Nexus fired a blast of air into Zuro's back, sending his top half lurching forward as Daigo ran in towards his side - a huge, glistening crystal axe in his hands which he swung down to try and execute Zuro there and then.
A shattering sound echoed through the air as Zuro tore his foot from its confinement, however, and in a single swift movement he sent the full limb battering into Daigo's stomach, propelling him backwards at an obscene speed and sending the axe tumbling from his grip.
A pair of arms suddenly wrapped around Zuro's torso, their hands joining around his back as Neo tightened his grip as much as he could - while simultaneously burrowing a mass of black tendrils ten feet deep into the concrete beneath him to hold his feet in place.
Zuro pulled backwards, trying to break Neo's grip, only to be struck by another blast of air which sent his body snapping forward once more. This time, the axe that swung down on him belonged to Kayla instead of Daigo.
And it sent his instincts off like a trillion fireworks.
Zuro spine emitted a loud snap as it broke in two, twisting as far to the right as it could and resulting in the axe very narrowly skimming his head. One of the three horns on his head was severed completely, falling to the ground as Zuro let out a roar of rage and sunk his claws into Neo's side, forcibly tearing him off of his torso before slamming him straight down on top of Kayla.
His fists swung down on top of the pair of them, attempting to finish them off, only for an invisible barrier to stop them in their tracks. Zuro spun on Nexus with a hateful expression, shooting towards him with unrelenting fury at the tricks that were being played on him.
The broken spine didn't seem to remotely slow Zuro down - in fact, it had practically healed itself back together already. Nexus stared him down unflinchingly as he approached, one hand pointed forward at him while the other remained clenched behind his back.
Zuro bore down on top of him, both claws slashing down simultaneously as he bellowed wordlessly in rage. But somehow, his attack struck only air.
Nexus, in the very last second, had dashed a good six feet to the left - using his powers to muffle any noise he would make so Zuro would have no idea he'd moved. Instead of stopping or attempting to put any distance between the pair of them, Nexus lunged straight for Zuro once more, though this time he was moving past him rather than toward him.
As Zuro's claws struck the ground beneath him, and Nexus passed swiftly by on the demon's right; his clenched hand shot out like a whip - slapping his palm straight onto Zuro's open mouth. The red man didn't even take a second to be confused, failing to notice the tiny black orb that had just slipped past his gullet.
The spike on his wing shot down at Nexus as he passed, but the man merely swerved his head sideways and kept on moving - sucking in a gasp of air as he did before bellowing loudly:
"NEO, NOW!"
Thankfully, his brother remembered what the signal was for.
The tiny orb that was roughly halfway through Zuro's digestive track suddenly exploded inside him in a burst of darkness, causing the man to scream in the first display of sheer agony that Nexus had ever seen from Zuro.
From the outside it didn't look like much had happened. Zuro's skin was apparently so strong that the explosion was contained within him, though the way his body convulsed and he crumpled heavily to the ground showed that something was definitely going on inside him.
He screamed as his organs were rattled by the explosion, nearly popping under the sheer pressure as Neo's darkness tore through them, bruising and battering them as they went. All of a sudden the screaming was interrupted by a choking sound, as a surge of black liquid escaped form Zuro's mouth and splattered on the ground.
It was an extremely dark black, exactly the same as Neo's powers, but the splatters looked as though it had been mixed with a gallon of purple blood no doubt formed from the chaos going on in Zuro's body.
Nexus stood silently over the villain, waiting for him to keel over and die. He had no clue whether the attack was going to finish him off or not, but the fact Zuro was still able to move didn't give him much hope.
"Kayla, hurry up and-" He turned his head for a split second, foolishly letting his guard down as he turned to see why the girl hadn't tried to attack Zuro yet. The noise of the demon's wings flapping as he shot straight towards him snapped Nexus' attention back a second later, but when he turned to face his foe once more it was already far too late to block the attack.
All Nexus saw was Zuro's eyeless, stony face as he closed the distance between them - only partly aware of the sharp claw extended out in front of him. He only had a millisecond to curse himself, before the claw found flesh and sunk deep into it with a loud, wet squelch.
But Nexus didn't feel any pain.
A head of brown hair was suddenly in front of him, atop a burly body which had somehow managed to throw itself in front of the attack at the very last second. It was Daigo - shouting out in pain as Zuro's claws sank deep into his gut. Nexus could only stare at him in shock.
The very first thing that came to Nexus' mind was; why the hell had he jumped in front of the attack? It would've been just as efficient to conjure up a barrier, or to simply push him out of the way, but taking the hit dead on made absolutely no sense.
Until it did.
Zuro remained stoic as his hit landed - not seeming the least bit perturbed by the fact that he had missed his target - but when he tried to retract his hand from Daigo's stomach he suddenly found himself unable to.
Daigo's very skin had turned to crystal around the red man's claw - the blood inside of him was frozen too, and damn strongly at that. Zuro tried once again to tear his hand free, but only resulted in dragging Daigo forward slightly.
It was then that his plan made sense to Nexus.
And without a second's hesitation, he grabbed a hold of Daigo's torso and used his powers to plant both their feet firmly in the ground. "KAYLA!" He shouted, more desperately than he had meant to, as Zuro's features filled with sudden realisation.
The red-skinned man used all of his strength to try and move, his muscles bulging obscenely as the ground beneath his feet cracked and crumbled - and slowly, Nexus and Daigo started to be dragged from their spot.
"Shit!" Nexus cursed, trying to reinforce his powers to keep them there - but it was no use. Zuro had grasped his own arm with the opposite hand and was actively tearing the concrete out from under the pair of them. They started being lifted bodily, as Zuro took one step back, then another.
But then Nexus felt another pair of hands grab his own back.
Neo held him as tightly as he could muster, and suddenly a mass of darkness joined their feet alongside the air and crystal already trying to keep them there. Their combined force brought Zuro to a halt, leaving him unable to do more than struggle in their grasp as Daigo's crystal crawled slowly further and further up his arm.
"KAYLA!" The brothers accidentally shouted at once, just as the girl came running up right behind Zuro, her sword raised lethally as she let out a yell of rage. A blast of every sort of power she could muster exploded out as she swung the blade down, trying to take Zuro's head clean off with the single swing.
And missed-
-as the demon snapped his own neck by ducking down impossibly low.
But Kayla's swing hadn't quite stopped there.
The instant she missed his head, Kayla shifted her swing to instead fall directly down - slicing cleanly through Zuro's arm at the elbow in a magical spray of sizzling purple blood. The red man screamed as he fell away from the group, clutching his stump as it burned with the fire of a thousand suns.
The three men all let go of each other, with Daigo collapsing to the ground a second later - Zuro's severed arm still embedded in him. He pulled it out as his powers retracted from it, tossing it aside without a second though as his organs bled profusely and he suddenly vomited up a mound of blood.
Kayla ran to him, kneeling down and pressing a hand to his shoulder as her eyes flashed green and sent the man back to just before the injury had taken place. "Thank you..." He muttered gratefully, peering past Kayla's face to instead look at Neo and Nexus - who had both walked over to the cowering Zuro and now stood menacingly over him.
Zuro looked broken. He clutched his stump against his chest, rolling faintly back and forth on the ground as his unseeing eyes stared up at the sky and purple-black blood spilled down from his lips. It was a pitiful sight, and one neither of the brothers ever expected Zuro to display.
He seemed to sense their presence after about five seconds, propping himself up slightly as he backed away and glared hatefully up at the two of them - though the glare was interrupted by a spasm of painful twitches on his face.
"Look at you two. Brothers...HAHA! Brothers reunited. Brothers with a common goal again. Brotherhood...what a joke! I had a brother. Hadi. Born of the same womb, filled with the same blood. And yet...what a weakling he was. He died so easily. I killed him so easily. You'll kill each other too, no doubt. When you find out what he did. Neo. Hadi. You'll kill him. You'll kill him when you find out what he did. What he did...what I did. What I did. I-...killed him...and I loved it!" Nexus' face contorted into a detest-filled scowl as he listened to the nonsense Zuro was spouting through his scratchy, battered throat. It seemed that receiving such an injury - and one that he couldn't heal, no less - had broken him.
It filled Nexus with disgust.
A man as strong as Zuro brought so low by a mere flesh wound? Any and all respect he'd reserved for him had disappeared in an instant.
"Nexus!" A voice called from just behind him, causing Nexus to instantly spin around as Zuro slowly fell quiet. Quinn was running over - Synthia right beside her as Axel and Kelsie remained a little further behind.
Nexus took a few steps towards the girl as she approached, both of them slowly coming to a halt as they stared at one another. "Is it over? Did we win?" She asked hurriedly, her face looking around anxiously as Synthia asked Neo the exact same questions.
"I don't know. I think so. Ask Kayl-" "It's not over!" The girl in question suddenly shouted, her sword once more in her hand as she ran to where most of the group had congregated.
"Wait a second. Where the fuck did he go?!" Neo cried incredulously as he searched around the area Zuro had been not ten seconds ago - finding nothing more than his severed arm and a puddle of black and purple blood. The thought that he'd taken his eyes off him for a single millisecond filled the boy with rage.
"Like I said." Kayla answered simply, pointing her hand towards...something. From what Nexus could tell, it was a huge skyscraper far in the distance. The one prided as the largest in the entire city.
"It's not over. Keep your eyes on that building, we still have more to do." She told them all, though she seemed like she knew exactly what was coming. Nexus found it odd how calm she was about Zuro's disappearance, but he had learned to trust her at this point so he didn't question it.
"I'm guessing you were wondering why Noah and I disappeared earlier?" Kayla said as she stood beside Nexus, keeping her gaze levelled at the building "This is why. I witnessed a timeline where things played out exactly like this. But thankfully, I've taken some precautions this time."
Nexus gave a silent nod of understanding, glancing at Quinn's perplexed expression before looking up at the building Kayla had pointed out, keeping a lookout for...whatever was about to happen. Kayla seemed confident that they were safe there, so Nexus simply waited in silence as the rest of the group seemingly did the same.
All of a sudden, something felt off.
"LOOK OUT!" Nexus suddenly shouted, his instincts managing to warn him just in time as he grabbed Kayla and Quinn and dove to the ground with them, throwing up a shield as a sound like the sun itself exploding erupted all around them.
Nexus raised his head slightly from inside the bubble his powers had kept them in, eyes widening at the devastation around him. The building on his left was in the process of collapsing, scattering debris and streams of fire across the whole street like a firework.
An explosion suddenly erupted right on top of the next house down the street, proceeding to collapse that one as well, and then Nexus spotted the fifty or so red orbs raining down from the sky. Every time a single one of them made contact with anything - a house, a lamppost, a flying piece of debris - it blew up instantaneously, wreaking mass destruction in a forty foot radius.
One fell directly in front of him, shaking the barrier that was protecting him and the girls, and then another went off somewhere behind him - the very ground itself trembling violently.
"I don't understand..." He heard Kayla muttering, clutching her hair as more and more explosions went off everywhere around them "He didn't do this last time. I was so sure...Jesus, I hope everyone got to cover in time..."
Nexus' eyes scanned the sky for any sign of Zuro, but he couldn't find him anywhere. It seemed like the bombs were falling from the sky itself - Zuro must've conjured them all somewhere high above the clouds and then just let gravity do the rest.
Eventually, after a solid minute or so of nothing but explosions, the world fell still and silent.
Nexus cautiously dropped his barrier, his powers reaching out all around him to try and sense a single orb that might still be falling. But no, he was sure that was the end of it.
The man didn't get the chance to properly examine the real extent of the damage around him, or to check if any of the others were alive, as his gaze suddenly locked on the building Kayla had pointed out earlier and he noticed something distinctly different about it.
The skyscraper was taller than it had been before.
Nexus' eyes trailed from the tip all the way down to the bottom, though his eyes grew wide and his stomach sank as he realised there was no bottom. All he could see was a massive web of red - tendrils, if he had to guess - holding the entire building up in the middle of the sky.
Zuro had torn the skyscraper out of the fucking ground.
It took Nexus embarrassingly long to discover that he'd been wrong. The building wasn't being held in place, rather it was being carried closer and closer to the group by the lone figure who stood underneath.
Suddenly, a voice boomed from the heavens - speaking so loud it was as though it came from Nexus' own head.
"YOU RODENTS HAVE DEFIED GOD WITH YOUR REBELLION!" Zuro's easily distinguishable voice echoed across the city, as Nexus grabbed a hold of his own hand to stop it from shaking "YOUR FAILURE TO RECOGNISE YOUR INSOLENCE HAS RESULTED IN YOUR OWN DESTRUCTION. ANY MERCY I MAY HAVE BESTOWED UPON YOU WAS FORFEITED LONG AGO. I AM THE GOD OF THIS PLANET! MY WILL IS LAW, MY POWER IS INSURMOUNTABLE, MY FOES TREMBLE BENEATH ME AND WEEP FOR THEIR SOULS! YOUR DEFIANCE IS YOUR UNDOING! DEATH WILL BE YOUR SOLE REWARD! WEEP IN YOUR FINAL MOMENTS! AND PRAY THAT DEATH ITSELF IS KINDER TO YOU THAN I!"
Nexus had no idea what was to follow after a speech like that, but he soon found out.
The building stopped moving, hovering about half a mile away from where the group stood. As Nexus looked further up, he discovered that the top half of the building was slowly starting to tilt forward - stooping down over them as the red net underneath it disappeared.
The entire thing started to fall, crashing down on them at a faster speed than Nexus had expected an entire building to have.
And as he stared straight up at the ruined city held within the building's mirrored glass windows, the reality of what had just happened suddenly dawned on the man.
Zuro had thrown the skyscraper at them.