Nothing but an eerie silence as the elevator climbed to the top floor of this secret Black Star laboratory. My strongest foe, Shadow, is waiting for me, and has probably already shipped off my blood sample to his allies. If not, then I have stop too much of it from being sent. The scientist I spoke to before coming up here said that he may have left the building, instead of going to the top. I activate Plasmatic Mode and make my way out into the room. I used my echolocation abilities to try and sense Shadow in the room. Nothing. The only things that showed up were tables, chairs and a bed. I took a few steps, sensing vibrations as I strode. After attempting to increase my sensing range, I get the feeling of a door handle. Or more precisely, door handles. They must lead to more rooms. I can't find any light switches to see which door leads where, so I have to make do with my echolocation.
I open the door on the far left and am met with nothing except a few sheets of paper lying on the floor. I pick them up and read 'Operation: Beelzebub." I can't quite read what the rest of it says, but I can assume it's a plan to clone me, referencing me being part-demon. That information still shocks me. I'm possessed by a demon. Wait a minute...
"Hey, Luca?" I said quietly to myself, "You have any opinions on this?"
"Well, I can tell you that it says 'Operation: Beelzebub'." His voice took me by surprise, "I couldn't tell you what that means. I can try and figure it out for you if you want."
"Thank you, Luca. I guess you were right."
"About what?"
"You really aren't my enemy." He didn't respond after that. There wasn't anything of interest left, so I made my way to the second door. I opened that up. The walls were lined with cryogenic chambers, more advanced-looking versions than the one I was stuck in. The glass was coated in dried blood, and some even had bones in them. Were these used to create more Agents? Or to make clones of me? Either way, what I'm seeing is incredibly messed up. This degree of human experimentation is sickening. Their skeletons don't even seem human anymore. I threw up in my mouth from the sight of it, and the thought of what these people had to go through, if I could even call them people at this point. With my mind racing, I left this room with a bad taste in my mouth. And at last, the third and final door. I turned the handle and pushed it open.
I took off my mask and threw up onto the floor. This is such a horrific thing to look at. I can barely make out any of the old paint work in this room. The whole thing is just blood. Five hooded corpses lay around what looked like the dead body of a demon, but only half of one. Its eye sockets were empty, and its horns and teeth were cracked, along with most of its bones. The only part of the room that isn't covered in blood is the area around the demon. There on the floor, clearly drawn out, is a blood pentagram. Wax remains of candles are at the points of the pentagram. Did Black Star summon this thing? This monster? Are they trying to force demons to possess clones of me to try and replicate my demonic powers? Because if so, it isn't going to work. "Luca? Luca, are you there?" No response. He must be trying to piece together the Beelzebub information with this apparent summoning. With an even worse taste in my mouth, I put my mask back on, leaving with no sign of Shadow anywhere.
"Don't move another step closer."
I saw Shadow holding Ben and Sophie as hostages, pointing guns at their heads.
"I SAID DON'T MOVE!" he shouted at me, "IF YOU DO, I'LL KILL THEM BOTH WHERE THEY STAND!"
"Flint, don't," Ben said, coughing up blood, "He'll kill you if you don't."
"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" Shadow said, hitting him with his elbow, knocking him out.
"BEN!" screamed Sophie, trying to move closer to Ben's unconscious body.
"You too, you bitch!" He screamed in Sophie's ear. I fired my grappling hooks in his eyes and pulled myself towards him. From the damage, his grip loosened on the two scientists. Sophie picked Ben up and moved him away from Shadow. We were both now in the elevator. I pinned him to the ground and punched him. The elevator wires immediately broke, and we began to hurtle to the bottom. We crashed down with force, smashing a crater in the ground. I grabbed him and threw him down the ground floor corridor, and he flew into the streets. I wasted no time in activating Plasmatic Mode and speeding after him. By the time he stood up, I had already punched him in the gut, causing him to fly farther down the street. He flew past the wreckage of the cars I destroyed on the way to the lab. Shadow picked one of them up and threw it at me. I used my N.A.D.A sword and the grapple hook sword to slice through the oncoming car. When I did so, he appeared right in front of me, and planted his knee into my face. I felt my jaw break as I fell, but it healed quickly. He grabbed me by the collar and slammed me into the ground, dragging me along the road. Tarmac was embedded in my skull, and I felt the bone begin to wear down. This pain lasted for what felt like dozens of minutes, and after that, he finally dropped me. I couldn't stand up, now matter how hard I tried. My legs wouldn't allow me to, and my arms had no strength to let me push myself up either. He strutted his way towards me, a menacing grin grew across his face. And lent over. And he took off my mask. He jumped back in shock, "Oh my. I can understand now. You really are a demon."
"Wait. You know?"
"Why yes. I do. You must've seen Operation: Beelzebub, right?"
"Only the name, but I'm guessing that you're summoning and forcing demons to possess clones of me."
"Half a point." I could tell that he was about to speak again, but instead he stopped. He was about to tell me everything. But that would have been a bad decision on his part. So he beat me. Again. And again. And again. My brown jacket turned red, and the blood started to fill the crater I was lying in. In fact with each punch, I was buried deeper into the Earth. And he came with me. His fists sent shockwave after shockwave across the city. Glass shattered on the skyscrapers and apartment buildings. From a distance, I could see the hospital where I first met Luca begin to split in half. I tried to look back, and the Black Star laboratory began to crack too. And it came crashing down.
Ben! Sophie! I wanted to call out to them. But Shadow's relentless attacks wouldn't allow me to. Luckily, before I was completely buried in a tarmac grave, I caught a glimpse of them standing outside the building. Safe. But then I saw Shadow look up briefly. After looking back down for a split second, he stopped hitting me. His attention must have been caught by Ben and Sophie! He rose up and floated towards the lab. I can't let my friends die! Not now, not ever! One by one, I lifted each of my fingers. It took longer that it needed to, but when I clambered out, I saw him getting nearer to them. "NO!" I shouted. Plasma energy burst out of me, widening and deepening the crater. Every window I could see broke at once, and the exteriors of the buildings were cracked more than before. I ran with explosive intent towards Shadow, with nothing on my mind but the need to save Ben and Sophie. I threw a punch.
I stopped Shadow from killing Dr Lyons and Dr Reede by punching a hole straight through his stomach. I pulled it out, grabbed him by the arm and threw him straight through one of the collapsing skyscrapers. He blew a hole through it, and it really began to crumble and crash. I powered up my echolocation and mentally scanned the whole building. It's just like when I had to save those people back in 2020. When Rhys died. Damn, that hurts to think about. But I cannot let anymore people die. I run into the building. It's a good thing that there aren't many people here. Only a dozen. Three on the third floor, six on the fifth floor, two on the sixth floor and one on the ninth floor. I jumped up to floor three and grabbed the civilians, bringing them down safely to the street. When I reached the fifth floor, two of them were trying to rescue someone trapped under rubble. "Move!" I called out to them. I gripped the rock and lifted it with ease. I put it down and took them with the other rescued folk. Only three left on this floor, and only a few seconds left for the rest. I had to quickly scour the floor, eventually finding all three and saving them. As I climbed up to floor six, I could feel the building begin to topple. Luckily it was moving to fall away from the rescued. I took the two and raced them down, then jumped up to floor number nine, saving the last person. "Are you guys alright?" I said to them, before looking back at the building. I saw Shadow through the big gaping hole in the building. He kicked it. It began to fall towards us. I have to move, and fast! I braced my limbs for contact. Contact was made. And strain was imminent.
"Run! Run before you're crushed!" I shouted out. They seemed to obey. Crawling out from underneath, I lowered the building so as to not cause any more damage. But more damage was done to me. A shadow tendril pierced through my shoulder, and a second stabbed through my arm. Shadow came down to me and punched me in the gut. He grabbed me by the jaw, mask still removed, and started to try and tear it off. I bit down, puncturing his hand with my sharp fangs. Pushing him away, I palm thrusted him with plasma, and sped up and choke slammed him. He wrapped more tentacles around me, lifting me into the air and slamming me into the ground. We both stood up and the same time and flung our fists. They struck each other. We kept pushing against each others fists, eventually gripping each others shoulders like superhuman sumo wrestlers. Our energy erupted as if it were a light show, illuminating the darkness of Manhattan.
I planted my foot into his stomach and threw him up into the air. Jumping up to him, I used my signature axe kick to blast him away from the hospital area, away from innocent civilians. He landed in an open area. When I reached him, I immediately recognised where we were. The ruins of the Black Star hospital. "Ah. I can tell you remember this place, eh?"
"Of course I do. We were here earlier tonight."
"Aw, you remember when we first met. How sweet." He said that last part through gritted teeth.
"But I'm not going to let you get away this time, Shadow!" We both ran at each other, and he was the first to try and hit the other. I blocked his punch and went to counter, but he countered my counter. This cycle of blocking went on for many minutes, the air pressure released from our strikes started to lift rubble into the air. It became a tornado of rock and rubble, our power constantly growing and growing with each punch. I suddenly felt great pain stab through me. Literally. His tentacles went straight through me, splitting me apart. I felt my right arm begin to tear off. And it did. He hit me across the face with my own damn arm, knocking me out in the process. I could still faintly hear him, though.
"Finally! This arm is enough to create a perfect clone of you now! I'm sure our gracious leader will put this to good use. What do I do with him now? I can take him back with me, can't I? Then they can use all of his body to make clones. Perhaps even brainwash him, like what we did with his dumbass sister. If only we had those scientist friends of his. And the dead ones. They would have useful. Now, how to go about making clones of him?" I just about managed to open my mouth.
"I'd sooner die than be used by you bastards!" A surge of energy flowed through my body. But it wasn't Plasmatic energy. No purple lightning. Instead, it was red. Crimson.
Crimson flames.
They enveloped my body, granting me a new arm made of fire. This is it. This is just a fraction of the power that Luca has given me. I put my hands together and then moved them apart. My own flame sword. I felt like I had all the power in the universe at this point. And that's what I shall call this power form.
Universal Mode.
Shadow copied my creation of a sword and ran at me. The power of my fire broke through his flimsy shadow sword, and sliced his stomach. He only just managed to dodge backwards and fire a beam of shadow energy at me. I easily stepped out of the way of it and fired my own beam. It fired with intense heat, and Shadow was hit backwards. I instantly moved closer to him and beat him with a fist of fire. The force of the punch sent him into the Earth. And I stopped. And I waited. He flew up out of the ground and fired yet another shadow beam. I countered it with my own. My blast tore a hole in Shadows chest, but he healed and flew down towards me again. He kicked me in the face, but I retaliated with a knee to the stomach. I saw him create another sword, but this time it was a much bigger one. "You can't win, Flint!"
He rushed towards me and stabbed at me. I deflected the tip of the blade with my own, causing him to stumble backwards. I threw balls of fire at him, but he blocked them with his sword. I hit him across the face with my shin. The left side of his face got covered in burns from my flames, and he flew back. Picking himself up, he sprinted at me, shadow tentacles trailing behind him. When he punched, they all pierced my body and pulled me towards him, connecting his fist with my jaw. He couldn't knock me down, though, so I retaliated with a wave of flames. He ducked underneath and sweeped at my legs. Jumping over, I kicked him square in the head, shattering his nose. I jumped backwards and started punching the air. Fireballs shot out from my fists, they were being fired so fast that Shadow could barely block them with his claymore. I put my hands together again, making a bigger fire sword than before. I could see the shock in Shadow's vacant eyes, and he stood in a defensive stance. Once again, our swords clashed, and my flames burst everywhere, licking Shadows face. The heat from my Universal Mode could melt icebergs. That's how intense the heat was. "I don't understand! How are you this powerful?" He leapt backwards, overcome with fear.
"Because unlike you, I'm not alone."
"Is that.." Shadow said, timidly, "a Demon?"
"Not just any Demon, but the source of my power." I could see him start to back away. "Hey, Luca, how much power would you say I'm using?"
"Previously you were using about 10% of my power. Right now, This is probably a solid 30% increase."
"Incredible." I responded with wonder, "Are you able to beat him up, Luca? Since you're out of my body?"
"I am not yet a physical entity." He responded. "With time, I will be able to." He disappeared, and I immediately charged at Shadow. He couldn't react in time, and I sliced his stomach open. It unfortunately healed, but he still scrambled back to his feet. He sent shadow tentacles at me, and I deflected all of them away with my sword, eliminating them with the light from my flames. He was beginning to get desperate, sending tentacle after tentacle after tentacle. I could even see some of them move so fast, that they broke the sound barrier at least three times each. But I was easily deflecting them, moving maybe more than twice as fast as them. I put my sword away again, flinging even more fireballs, snapping my fingers shooting firebolts, dealing an immense amount of damage to Shadow. After that barrage of attacks, he was unable to stand. He could barely manage to pick himself up, and his legs gave way, putting him out of commission. Looking on at him barely standing, I summoned my sword into my hand, holding it by my waist. "No! You can't do this! Without me, this city will collapse!"
"Not with me it won't."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because you won't be here to get in my way."
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