Chapter 207: Chapter 174

BOOOOM!

The earth shook and rocks were thrown into the air, boulders the size of cars hurtling through the air as the cliff exploded. The wind whipped past Mephisto’s ears whilst he completed his backflip, landing on one of the hurtling rocks and looking down at the crater that had been left behind. He adjusted his tie and grinned. Not far away, sparks of electricity crackled in the air before a bolt of lightning zipped onto another stone. He watched the crater grow more and more distant, a massive shape crawling out of it. A pair of wings with a span comparable to that of a commercial airliner spread out amidst the rubble.

“Ho ho! He’s mad!” Mephisto laughed.

The green-scaled thing had a powerful body that looked vaguely reminiscent of a feline’s in structure but that’s where the comparisons ended. It had a long neck with a massive triangle-shaped head and jaw filled with razor sharp teeth. Its thick tail swept up and down in a sharp movement that crushed stone behind it and gave it enough upward momentum to kick off into the sky. It tucked its rear limbs back while its forelimbs reached out, black claws extended, and flapped its wings to launch itself at Mephisto.

A peal of delighted laughter was Kera’s only response, her body changing into a bolt of lightning again and ripping down through the air to strike at the colossal beast. The bolt struck the side of Drastic’s head before dancing off and striking again and again at his scales. She bounced around his body like a pinball, searching for a weak spot. Thunderclaps followed each blow that left searing black marks on its body. Mephisto raised an eyebrow, Only superficial damage. Some kind of resistance or immunity? He thought before stepping casually off the hurtling boulder that had begun to arc back towards the earth.

“Stay,” he commanded and his body was arrested in the air, hovering in place while he observed.

“O U T S I D E R!” Drastic roared, flames exploding from his scales and sending Kera darting away with a shriek. Her body flipped end over end a few times while she patted herself down, trying to put the flames out on her body. The rushing wind and her efforts accomplished little though.

Mephisto tilted his head thoughtfully, Resistant to being put out, my ability must have overrode that feature. Neat. He opened his mouth to give Kera instruction but she just swore and turned back into lightning, shooting up into the clouds and leaving the flames behind in the air where she’d been a moment before, That works too. He mused before turning his attention back to Drastic who was racing towards him at top speed. Should probably focus. He’s not a pushover. Mephisto thought and rolled his jaw left and right, “Stop,” he commanded but Drastic kept coming, only a faint flinch showing any indication that the ability had even triggered.

Mephisto’s eyes went wide and with a word he sent himself hurtling to the left, darting out of the way of the oncoming supervillain. Not far enough, Drastic’s wing clipped Mephisto’s side and sent him spinning through the air. He grimaced from the momentary pain, muttering under his breath to push it aside while Drastic rose up into the sky, flapping his wings and turning to look down on them in all his glory. “I  W I L L  C O N S U M E  Y O U!”

“You do that!” Mephisto laughed. His blood was pumping in his veins. It’d been a while since anything had resisted his Word of Power ability. He glanced up at the clouds and saw them darken, flashes of light building inside. He returned his attention to Drastic and schooled his expression into a malevolent grin. Neither he nor Kera needed to say a word to one another to know what needed to happen here. Their bickering notwithstanding, they were paired off for a reason. Understood. He thought before throwing his hands out wide in a dramatic pose. “Last chance!” He called, “I’m always happy to talk! Fighting is sooooo messy,” he whined.

Drastic bellowed and with a flap of his wings raced down towards Mephisto.

Yeah that’s it, come and get me. Mephisto thought before whipping both hands together, “Arrest! Crash!”

The boulders that had been sent hurtling into the air by Drastic’s arrival, those that were on the ground and those still in the sky, froze before abruptly changing direction. They raced towards Drastic and slammed into his side, his head, and his wings. The strikes did little in the way of damage besides further annoying the powerful mythic. Broken pieces of stone fell to the ground out of the cloud of debris that Drastic burst from in an infuriated roar, red light growing inside of his throat. Mephisto stared down the enormous gullet of his opponent and clicked his tongue, “Extinguish,” he spat. The red light died and Drastic let out a surprised screech.

“Y O U!” The dragon-man howled and raised his wings high before bringing them down in a single powerful flap, putting on a shocking burst of speed.

Mephisto barely had a chance to blink, “Wall! Wall!” he shouted and the air condensed in front of him. Drastic collided with the construct only to obliterate it in an instant, slamming his head into Mephisto’s body. Mephisto let out a gasp of pain even as the mild regenerative power that Ishtar had given him upon his ascension set to work. It was a Rare-Tier ability, nothing special in the realm of Mythics, but between it and the endurace-based power she’d also granted his bones were saved from being turned to powder. He collided with the ground and let out a gasp, coughing as he sat up and looked to the sky. Drastic was still coming, relentless. Behind Drastic the clouds were continuing to darken, Kera’s power building and building.

Mephisto sneered, “You are a tough son of a bitch, this is fun!” He laughed and scrambled to his feet. He wiped a bit of blood off his lips, Let’s try something a bit more advanced, then.

“Shorn and sheared,” he began as Drastic raced towards him. Around him, a swath of trees were stripped violently of their limbs and branches, leaves were torn away until nothing was left but straight trunks, “Tempered and sharpened,” he continued and the trees were whittled down into long spikes that at first turned black before taking on a glossy sheen and shrinking slightly, becoming denser.

“STRIKE!”

A hundred trees, compressed under pressure and converted into carbonized hardened spears launched into the air in a stream of death. They peppered Drastic’s scales, most of them exploding into powder on impact while a few managed to find purchase. One of them even going as far as to puncture through the supervillain’s wing. Drastic let out a roar of pain and shifted his trajectory, trying to get out of the way of the hailstorm of black streaks that Mephisto was sending his way. Unfortunately for Drastic, that punctured wing sent him turning too far to the right and another spear collided with his jaw, throwing his head back. He flipped backwards, losing his positioning in the sky for a moment, stunned.

“FALL!” Mephisto commanded and this time Drastic’s body obeyed. He was thrown bodily to the ground, crashing into the jungle below with a terrible earth-shaking sound. A portion of soil beneath Mephisto’s feet cracked open under the shaking. That wasn’t the end of Drastic’s troubles, though. Kera took that terrible crash as her cue and with another sound that shook the air a single concentrated bolt of lightning slammed down from above atop the spot where Drastic had landed. There was a blinding flash of light and then utter silence. Static filled Mephisto’s ears as he brushed himself off and checked his injuries. His body hurt but he was otherwise fine, he’d need to wait for a few of his bones to heal though, they were broken in several places.

“Got him!” Kera called over the static.

He reached up to his ear, “I’ll be right over,” he said and sighed at the state of his outfit, “Dirty and torn.”

That was when a few clouds of multicolored light began to take form in his immediate surroundings. His lip twitched, Ishtar did warn me this could happen. He thought as hounds took shape, landing on the ground and snarling. He didn’t even give them a second glance, “Break,” he clipped while he walked by. The creatures didn’t even have a chance to have their first steps before they were twisted and wrought into misshapen masses of flesh and bone. He huffed and glared at the trees between him and his target, “Clear the way,” he said and the foliage was annihilated.

He walked through the cleared path casually, catching his breath. That trick with the trees had used quite a bit of his stamina and he was feeling a little breathless. Even so, he wasn’t done. He flexed his fingers, “Come,” he commanded as he walked. It took almost thirty seconds but eventually his suitcase managed to find its way to him from wherever it had ended up after the initial explosion. He caught it by the handle and came to a stop within sight of Kera. She was standing over a man, not a beast, in a crater that was comically large compared to his frame.

Mephisto hopped down and slid along the side of the crater, walking and coming to a stop next to Kera. He looked down at the man. Green scales adorned tan skin along his arms, neck, chest, and face. His filthy shirt had been ruined by the fight leaving his chest exposed. Numerous burn marks scored his flesh that were already beginning to heal. Mephisto snorted, “The Pandora Committee really needs to put more consideration into their top ten.”

“He hurt you and resisted my lightning at first,” Kera pointed out, “Dude’s strong. Had to use full power to get him like this. Anything less than an Inner Circle member would be mulch against him, no questions here.”

Mephisto whistled, “Really now?” he glanced up at Kera, “I was wondering what was taking you so long.”

She crossed her arms, “Full strike takes a bit,” she grunted before glancing to the left and firing a thin bolt of lighting from her fingertip. There was cry of pain behind Mephisto, “Fuck’s sake,” she swore, “Monsters popping up everywhere now.”

“Goes with the territory,” he said with a shrug and opened his suitcase. He reached in and pulled out a pair of cuffs before tossing them to Kera, “Get these on him. I’ll ask the boss about what she wants done.”

“On it,” she said and crouched down next to Drastic.

Mephisto reached up to tap his ear when something new appeared in the crater. Not a monster but a smooth stone shape that gave him pause for a heartbeat until it started rising out of the ground, he swore, “Cuff him, quick. We’ve got heroes,” he snarled and tapped his ear, “Mistress, we’ve got him. He attacked first, bad intel from the contact,” he said quickly, “We’ve got heroes incoming too. Euclidia’s making an arch.”

There was a long pause before Sonya’s modulated voice responded, “...well that’s no good!” she said brightly, the sound of laughing and conversation coming through the connection made him pause. “I’m at a party dear, give me a moment to find somewhere quiet!”

In other words, you’re in public and can’t use your portal ability right this second. Shit. He let out a breath before cracking a grin, “Got it,” he said casually, “I’ve got it handled.”

“Sixty seconds,” she said and ended the call.

He glanced to Kera who had just finished cuffing Drastic, “Boss says sixty seconds, she’s in public,” he said quickly before nodding towards the forming archway. “Looks like we caused enough mana buildup to draw some attention.”

“Amos and his fuckin’ radar,” Kera grunted and got to her feet, she gave Drastic a quick kick in the side for good measure, “If this guy had just talked we wouldn’t have this problem.”

“Yeah, what can you do,” he shrugged and turned towards the arch that had nearly finished rising out of the ground. He adjusted his tie and with a word repaired his clothes and cleaned them. Might as well look presentable. Kera waved a hand over Drastic and arcs of lightning wrapped around his body, holding him in place before she wandered over to join him. The portal in the archway began to distend and collapse in on itself. “Think you could destroy it?” He asked.

“Nah, tried once, the arches are indestructible,” Kera said with a huff.

“Fat lotta good you are,” he snorted.

“Says the guy who couldn’t close the deal,” she shot back, grinning at him.

He laughed and the portal stabilized, three figures stepped through. Two men and a woman. From the looks of it the two men were elite pandora forces, they wore combat gear and carried rifles in their hands. They stepped forward quickly and dropped to a knee, pointing their weapons at Kera and Mephisto. Mephisto frowned and narrowed his eyes, Only one hero to respond, who- his eyes went wide as he saw a green cheongsam and black hair done up in tight buns. He fixed his expression, “Qilin.”

Kera stiffened next to him, “One of the mistresses-”

He glanced her way to shush her and looked back to the trio with an easy smile. “Wow! What an entrance!” he said brightly, stepping forward a few paces.

“Don’t move!” One of the pandora soldiers shouted, “You are under arrest! Resist and we will be forced to take aggressive action!”

He stopped and put his hands on his hips, “Boys, please! You’re going to make me feel unwanted!” He huffed and flipped his hair back before turning to look Qilin up and down with as much confidence as possible. If what the boss said about her abilities was true, then they were in trouble. He wasn’t sure if Qilin’s power could interfere with teleportation but it could definitely interfere with their escape. He needed to buy time for the portal to form, though. He brandished his best smile, “And I’m guessing you’re Qilin!” he said brightly before offering a playful bow. “Charmed.”

She narrowed her eyes only slightly, her expression one of unending tedium. “I don’t know you. You aren’t on the roster,” she muttered before shifting her gaze towards Kera who was standing over Drastic, “I know those two though. How boring. The fight is already over. I heard Drastic was powerful. Shame,” she held up her hand lazily to point at Mephisto. “Oh well.”

He threw up a hand, “Now just a moment miss!” he said, “I’m just a businessman!”

She narrowed her eyes, “Liar. You reek of mana,” she said cooly.

“I never said I didn’t have power too!”

She hesitated and glanced at the suitcase in his hand. Her eyes narrowed further and she turned her attention to his face again. Something in her eyes changed just a little as something seemed to occur to her. “You are Mephisto. There were rumors my people were investigating. They are true it seems.”

Mephisto raised a hand to his heart, “My my! My reputation has already reached such vaunted heights?” he tittered out a laugh, “I’m honored!”

One of the soldiers glanced up at her, “Mephisto?”

“Is it true that you make deals on behalf of Ishtar? That she grants wishes?” Qilin asked, ignoring the man.

Mephisto paused, blinking a few times before glancing to Kera who shrugged at him. He turned back to her and couldn’t help but slip into a devious smile, “I do make deals for her, yes,” he said, holding up the suitcase, “Interested in making one here? We’d very much like to leave with our prize.”

Her expression was unreadable as the other soldier looked up, “Ma’am what-” he was cut off as silvery threads erupted from her fingertips, her hands moving so fast that Mephisto couldn’t even see them. In an instant the two men fell to the ground, their heads separated from their bodies. Blood pooled on the ground at her feet as she lazily examined the corpses from where she stood.

Mephisto felt a chill run up his spine as she returned her stare to him, “You two killed these men,” she said flatly before taking a step forward and appearing right in front of Mephisto, standing at least a head taller than him. She stared down at him with glowing green eyes, they were colder than the arctic sea, flat and almost lifeless.

In Mephisto’s ear, his boss’ modulated voice came through. “Mephisto? I can’t get a portal to form at your location. What’s happening over there?”

He swallowed hard as the woman loomed over him and she spoke, her words reaching into his chest and squeezing at his heart.

“I have a wish that I want granted.”

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