The city block was enveloped in a black haze. This frightening force merely left blockage in its path as it proved too difficult to distinguish surrounding objects. It was, really, an obstruction and a stumbling block for one particular individual.
Seth became aware of the extent of his actions as he walked around the city block. Even though he intended to wound his rivals by firing many powerful bursts of crystalline beams, in doing so, he made matters worse for himself because he didn't know exactly where they were lurking. Additionally, he had no idea of the state of the earth he was walking on.
The scorching tar wrapped its long, blistering tendrils around the soles of his feet with every stride. Despite encircling his feet, the melting tar wasn't powerful enough.
Then, from afar, a burst of flames soared out of the haze of smoke. Seth smirked as he saw Dan fly to him.
"Well, what do we have here," the latter responded.
He ejected a strong blaze closer to Seth's feet rather than commencing an attack. He raised the flames' temperature to 250 degrees. In the process, the tar began to melt and turned into a black, flaming sludge due to the immense heat.
Seth was gradually submerged into the dark liquid. The tar had characteristics akin to quicksand. Eventually, it surfaced toward his knees. Sam unleashed a massive UV beam behind Seth's back. He burned through his reserves with every effort, raising the UV beams' temperature to an unheard-of level. The beams were 280 degrees hot.Meanwhile, Dan returned the favor and unleashed his enmity upon him. He not only dialed up the heat on his fire blast to an incredible 300 degrees, but he also rained fire upon his demented sibling.
From where he stood, Seth cackled excessively as he felt a surging force of energy growing rapidly inside his body.
"Yes, feed me more with your power!!!!!
Then, as Diana hovered over Seth, the two quickly took off from him. When he looked up and spotted her, she extended her hands toward him, emitting a wine-purple haze. Upon realizing the potential risk posed by the haze, he strove to flee from it; however, the tar hindered his progress. When the smoke enveloped him, he breathed it in, allowing poisonous substances to enter his respiratory system. Naturally, as they got inside his lungs, they began to gradually eat away at his flesh. He responded by continuing to cough.
Harrison launched himself toward him from a higher altitude while he gasped for air. The latter appeared to have leaped enormously from a few meters away from Seth. Additionally, his powerful legs catapulted him to great height. As he drew closer to Seth, he clenched his fist which eventually morphed into a gauntlet of rocks. And with one strike, he clobbered Seth with a skull-bashing punch toward the countenance. Although Seth felt minor pain, still that attack knocked him off his feet, and he fell on his back and was covered by the burning tar.
Diana soared to him, lowering her altitude because he had also fallen into the tar. She seized him by the shoulders and propelled him out of the area covered in liquid asphalt. Dan went back to the tar zone and hovered over it to where his older brother was buried. He fired loose another burst of flames, raising the temperature of his own to an incredible 490 degrees at the same time.
Sam, in the meantime, went back to the area of burning tar and discharged his ultraviolet beams into it. The liquid tar eventually descended to much more profound levels of depth. Seth was slowly drowning in black ooze, making it hard to see him. Sam and Dan both flew away because the other three were standing far from the area covered by liquid asphalt.
"Do you think that we got him?" Harrison inquired as he turned to his left side to face Sam.
"I don't know," he replied.
They watched in silence and anticipated Seth's next move. As they watched, a section of the Asphalt River had bubbles streaming out. A humanoid shape resurfaced from the depths of the boiling, dreaded black goo. It blanketed itself around him as he struggled to emancipate himself from the grasp of the sticky tendrils spreading thoroughly from his fingers, hands, and legs. The black goo acted like a glue trap, clutching firmly onto its furred victim.
Seth trudged further, but as he moved, he put himself in a bigger predicament as more tar stuck onto his legs and pulled him back to his previous position.
"You insolent fools, you think that you won just because you've been trapped in this black sticky substance? You don't have what it takes to defeat me! I am the mighty Seth Savage Ex. I will not lose to you!" He bawled with anger, refusing to accept his outcome.
As he struggled to emancipate himself from the liquid Asphault's grip, Sam glanced at him. Some of the crystal spikes that grew from his wrists to his shoulders had cracks. Though they were minor, he realized that victory was not far from them. However, while he was immersed in his thoughts, Seth charged himself as an emerald aura imbued his body.
Meanwhile, Sam turned his back away from the four and walked away. They turned around to face him as Diana inquired, "Sam, where are you going? We need you!"
"I need you all to trust me, I have something in mind. In the meantime, cover for me and overfeed Seth with your powers until he reaches his limit!"
"Got it," Diana responded.
He staggered away from them and lifted off; he gained control of his flight and headed toward the Hudson River. Dan, Diana, and Harrison attacked Seth as he continued to charge himself. even more
Diana unleashed a barrage of projectile assaults that had an extreme decaying rate. Dan continued to raise the fire's temperature above 500 degrees by firing another burst of flame. Harrison's hand transformed into a rock canon. And lo and behold, the boy fired several boulder-like projectiles toward Seth.
"What a bunch of fools, when will they realize that they keep feeding me with more power? Given that they are gracious enough to assault me, I'll just have to charge myself even more. Yes, I'll push myself beyond my limits and reach extraordinary power!" Seth grinned, delighted by the prospect of this outcome.
Suddenly, a sharp shooting pain spread throughout Seth's body. He groaned in agony as a result and fell to his knees. As he tumbled toward the ground, his knees sunk into the deep boiling pit. By now the black goo had reached his midsection as he glanced at the liquid and gasped vehemently for air.
Once Diana, Dan, and Harrison saw this, they halted their attacks as a current of green electricity electrocuted him. He deformed and returned to his natural state, as the crystal spikes and armored skin reverted to his normal skin tissue. He also shrunk until he reached his original height.
*************
At this point, Sam had reached seven miles of distance from his previous location. He had reached the vast waters of the Hudson River. He stopped as soon as he crossed the terrain line between land and water At this juncture, he stopped flying and floated. He spread his hands apart and made slow, deliberate movements with his fingers.
"This is our last chance, I can't screw it up. I promise you guys, I'll make it up to you and avenge our losses!"
He then flew back in the direction that he came from. As he advanced, his speed increased significantly. One could compare his flight speed to that of a fighter craft.
***************
Now realizing his loss, a clump of veins formed around his temple and he growled with indignation.
"What did you do to me..." He began softly, as he slowly digested the prospect of his current status.
He looked up to face his siblings and screamed his lungs out, "I said what did you do to me?!!"
Gordon then interjected and spoke from afar, "Haven't you figured it out yet? We used your strength against you. Knowing well that you'd grow stronger from our attacks. We decided to fatten you up until your body reached its tether. Now you've exhausted yourself and your lust for power blinded you. You're left with nothing."
A smirk then laced his countenance, "Not yet, I haven't. I mean, I still have you!" His eyes ignited into a red pigment, he directed his gaze toward Gordon's heart. Then he launched his heat vision toward his chest.
"Now, die!!!!!!!" He shouted after launching the heat vision. The beams traveled so fast that the four were left too astonished to react. Diana stretched her hand out to form a barrier, however, the beams were within close reach of his chest. Gordon's eyeballs ballooned to great proportion as the red beams were less than five centimeters from him.
With incredible speed, Dan tackled him out of the way and sustained a treacherous wound on his shoulder. As the two collided against the ground. Gordon marveled at his actions, Dan rolled away from him and he grasped his shoulder to not only alleviate his anguish helplessly; but as well as o apply pressure to his wound and stop the bleeding.
The Knight of Bloodshed sat up straight and spoke to a groaning Dan, "You sacrificed yourself for me. The one individual you despised, why?"
"Cuz, you are part of my family..." Dan said, turning to face Seth from afar. Once he cast his eyes toward his older brother, he narrowed his brows and continued talking, "That's something you'll never be."
Seth glanced at the four from where he knelt. A plethora of emotions ran through him wildly, as he did not identify what he genuinely felt. Witnessing Dan sacrificing himself for Gordon, the individual responsible for his upbringing; being accepted by the one person who never judged him was something out of this world. It meant a great deal to him, as he was bothered by the fact that hell's favorite demon was accepted among them.
From afar, a sonic boom erupted. Seth looked up and knew who it was. He steadily stood up while the tar's tendrils yanked him down. He dug deep into his reserves and stood up while Sam closed the gap between them. At this rate, he flew at Mach one as the windows he flew past ruptured.
Although he could've prepared for an attack, he stood stationed where he was and took a deep breath instead. He closed his eyes as Sam got closer to closer.
Seth then muttered in his head, "You've won Gordon. All I ever wanted was to reunite with them without resorting to violence, yet you outshined me in that department without laying a finger. If this is how things must be, then it's pointless for me to fight back."
Meanwhile, Sam clenched his fist and coated it with an ultramarine aura. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he spoke to himself inside his mind, "You've tortured us far enough. Today I will uproot you out of our lives and avenge us all. Goodbye, Seth!"
With that at sight, he landed a massive punch, it connected in such a way that a set of teeth catapulted out of his mouth, while also accompanied by blood. Seth was plucked out of the black goo and collided with a nearby building.