BOOOOOM!
William's translucent crimson blade collided with Battle Beast's mighty mace, generating a shockwave so intense it rippled through the air with a deafening roar. Atom Eve and Conor reacted instantly, conjuring shimmering barriers of energy to shield the surrounding onlookers from the devastating force.
As the dust cloud billowed and obscured the battlefield, William was flung violently backward, landing with a bone-jarring thud. His blade, once pristine, now bore a jagged crack running its length, its brilliance dimmed. Blood trickled steadily from his trembling fingers as he fought to resist the force pushing him backward, determination etched into his pain-stricken face.
CRACK!
William's back slammed into the pink barrier Atom Eve had constructed, splattering it with red as his blood painted the surface for a fleeting moment. Yet, defying expectations, William rose to his feet. His wounds knit themselves together with remarkable speed, and, astonishingly, even his suit repaired itself alongside his body.
But the onlookers had no time to marvel.
A guttural roar ripped from the center of the dust cloud. With a furious whirl, Battle Beast spun in place, building momentum before hurling his mace with such force that it shattered the sound barrier. The weapon struck William square in the stomach, sending him crashing through Atom Eve's barrier and deforming the one Conor had constructed.
PUCHI!
He punched through the barrier like a toothpick through bubble wrap. When he hit the ground on the other side, the mace was embedded in his ribs, pressed dangerously close to a heart that now struggled to beat.
Conor's heart pounded as he watched Battle Beast lower his center of gravity, preparing to lunge.
"Shit!"
With a flick of his wrist, Conor's shadow tendrils surged forward, wrapping around William's broken frame and yanking him into the blackness beneath his feet. In the blink of an eye, William vanished, only the blood-soaked mace remained, clattering onto the concrete as Battle Beast landed with ferocious intensity.
BOOOOM!
The ground where William had been erupted into a geyser of debris, concrete, steel rebar, dust, sending a shockwave outward. But when the cloud cleared, three warriors stood in defiance.
Immortal. War Woman. Glory.
Though each of them was more bruise and blood than flesh, they stood tall. Weapons bared. Eyes locked. Fury boiling in their veins.
Behind the battlefield, deep beneath layers of rubble and shadow, William's blood seeped into the dirt. It pulsed, slowly at first, before surging. Nerves reconnected. Bones snapped back into place. His hollow chest refilled. Veins pumped life. Muscles quivered. Then—
GASP.
He shot upright, eyes wide, chest heaving as he took in a desperate breath like a man drowning in air. The shadows around him peeled back slowly like receding curtains, revealing Conor kneeling beside him.
"You good?" Conor asked, sweat dripping down his brow, one hand glowing with umbral energy and the other gripping his side.
William's eyes burned crimson as he slowly stood, still slick with his own blood.
"Never better," he rasped.
Suddenly, the three facing Battle Beast all lunged forward at once, with Immortal taking the center, War Woman taking the right flank, and Glory taking the left.
They arrived before a smirking Battle Beast and Immortal grabbed the lion-like alien's forearms.
"Hey Conor, you can use the shadows as portals, correct?" William asked Conor, who immediately nodded.
"Good, use those guns of yours and shoot the lion guy in the back!" William said as he stood to his feet slowly and prepared to reenter the fray.
Immortal's veins bulged almost to the point of bursting as he fiercely grappled with Battle Beast's arms. Fueled by sheer grit and determination, combined with the incredible advantage of his muscles healing faster than they were tearing, he managed to endure the brutal strain.
His relentless effort held out just long enough for War Woman and Glory to strike with their weapons.
SHING!
SHING!
CRACK!
Two blades and a mace smashed into both sides of Battle Beast's ribs, causing the air to be forcibly removed from his lungs and a pair of gashes to open up on the side where Glory struck with her blades.
Battle Beast was about to retaliate when the shadows beneath him began visibly roiling like boiling water, and the lion-like alien began to sink.
Two hands appeared from just beneath Battle Beasts' arms, the barrels of which were already collecting copious amounts of power from the shadows around them before—
BANG!
BANG!
"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
Battle Beast let out a painful roar as two immensely powerful shadow bullets at maximum charge smashed directly into the pits of his arms and the soft flesh underneath.
Drip!
Blood began to fall from Battle Beasts' arms, but a sinister grin formed on his face rather than one of pain as he suddenly looked into Immortal's eyes.
"Which arm is your favorite?"
Immortal naturally did not answer, but his eyes subconsciously moved to his right, which seemed to be enough for Battle Beast, who suddenly dug his clawed hands into Immortal's forearm.
"AAHHHHH!" Immortal cried out in pain as copious amounts of blood poured from the punctured veins.
Battle Beast applied greater strength and pulled the arm off at the elbow, causing a spray of blood to spray Battle Beast, who enjoyed it as if he were taking a shower.
Throughout this whole ordeal, War Woman, Glory, and Coner had continued to attack.
But Battle Beast didn't flinch. Their attacks might as well have been raindrops.
With a feral snarl, he hurled Immortal's severed arm like a spear. It spun through the air, end over end, before smashing into Glory's chest, knocking her clean off her feet and skidding her across the broken battlefield in a trail of blood and dust.
"ENOUGH!" War Woman shouted, eyes blazing as she swung her mace overhead with both hands and brought it down like a divine hammer. The earth cracked under the force.
BOOOOOM!
A shockwave rippled outward, throwing debris into the air and engulfing Battle Beast in a cloud of dust and smoke. But before it even cleared—
RRRRRRRRRRIP!
Battle Beast exploded out of the haze with terrifying speed and grabbed War Woman by the throat mid-air, his claws digging into her collarbone as blood streamed down her armor.
"You hit hard," he growled, voice guttural. "But I've killed harder."
He slammed her into the ground with such force that the pavement cratered beneath them. Then again. And again. Each slam sent tremors across the battlefield, until War Woman's mace finally clattered from her hand.
But just as he raised his claws to finish her—
CRACK!
A thin red line suddenly appeared across Battle Beast's cheek. Not deep. Not fatal. But sharp enough to sting. Sharp enough to bleed.
Battle Beast's head snapped toward the source.
William stood at the edge of the crater, steam rising off his body, his blood-forged blade humming low and angry. He held it in a reverse grip, crimson energy spiraling up his arm.
"I scratched you," William said calmly, though his heart thundered in his ears. "That's more than most can say."
Battle Beast reached up slowly, touching the blood now sliding down his furred jaw. His golden eyes narrowed, not in pain, but in intrigue.
"You did," he rumbled. "And now I'll return the favor."
He lunged.
William leapt back, blade spinning defensively as Battle Beast's claws sliced through the air with blinding speed. Even at full focus, William was barely dodging, the wind from each swipe cutting shallow grooves into his suit. One strike grazed his ribs, another nicked his thigh. Blood flew, but he stayed on his feet.
Conor emerged behind Battle Beast, twin pistols roaring to life as they pumped concentrated shadow blasts into the beast's back. The first few shots made him grunt. The next few began to annoy him.
Battle Beast turned slightly, just as Conor opened a portal behind himself and vanished, only to reappear above, firing downward mid-fall.
Meanwhile, War Woman rejoined the fray, dragging her wounded body upright and swinging with renewed fury. Glory, limping, flanked from the other side, her twin blades slashing in rapid arcs.
For a brief moment, Battle Beast was surrounded.
Four-on-one.
He loved it.
With a roar that split the air, Battle Beast exploded outward with a spinning backhand that caught War Woman across the jaw and sent her flying. He ducked under Glory's blades and drove his elbow into her gut, folding her over before booting her across the crater.
Then he turned to Conor, just in time for the boy's final volley of shadow bolts to hammer into his face.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The blasts pushed Battle Beast back a few steps before he growled and swatted Conor's pistols out of the air like they were toys.
William reappeared at his side, blade flashing toward Battle Beast's eyes.
CLANG!
This time, Battle Beast caught the blade between his fingers.
Too fast. Too strong.
He yanked William forward and headbutted him, hard. A geyser of blood burst from William's nose as he crumpled, vision swimming.
Battle Beast towered over him, expression wild with excitement.
"I felt that scratch," he said with a low growl. "Keep pushing. Maybe in a decade or two, you'll give me a scar worth remembering."
He raised his foot to stomp down on William's chest—
SHOOOOOM!
A pink barrier erupted around William just in time, Atom Eve had arrived, hovering above, arms blazing with raw construct energy.
"You'll remember this," she snarled, hurling a barrage of neon javelins from the air.
The battlefield shifted again.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Each strike was perfectly placed, targeting Battle Beast's joints, pressure points, and wounds from earlier. The ground erupted in flares of pink plasma with every impact, the light reflecting off the blood-streaked battlefield.
Battle Beast raised his arms to guard his face, snarling as one of the javelins slammed into the same spot William had scratched earlier, deepening the cut just enough to draw more blood.
That got his attention.
With a bellowing roar, Battle Beast leapt straight into the air, toward Eve.
"Damn—" she whispered, thrown off by his insane vertical leap.
He smashed into her mid-air like a comet, claws outstretched.
BOOM!
They crashed into a nearby building, sending rubble and twisted steel flying as floors collapsed. Eve barely had time to throw up a barrier around herself, which shattered instantly under the sheer weight of the impact.
Battle Beast dragged her through three floors before kicking her out the side of the tower like a ragdoll. She went tumbling through the air, skipping across rooftops like a stone on water.
Back on the ground, William stood, his nose broken, ribs bruised, legs shaking.
But he didn't fall.
Conor landed beside him, also winded, blood matting his curls.
"You ready?" William asked through gritted teeth.
Conor raised one of his pistols, shadows swirling around the barrel like liquid smoke.
"I was born ready," he said, but his voice trembled with exhaustion.
They didn't wait.
WHOOSH!
Both surged forward, William with his reformed blood-blade, Conor using rapid-fire portals to zigzag across the field, flanking from every angle.
Battle Beast had barely landed when William came in fast, feinting high and slicing low. The blade cut across Battle Beast's shin, another scratch. Painful. Annoying.
He reached to grab William, but Conor blinked in and blasted him point-blank in the side of the face, staggering him just enough for William to stab the beast in the thigh.
Again, not deep.
But enough to keep pressing.
Then came War Woman, her nose broken, one eye swollen shut, but still charging with a furious roar. She jumped, mace overhead, and brought it down like thunder.
BOOOOOM!
The impact knocked Battle Beast off balance.
Then Glory returned, blades singing through the air as she slashed across his back.
Then Immortal, blood still pouring from the stump of his right arm, slammed into Battle Beast from the side with a flying shoulder tackle.
The entire squad was on him again, bruised, bloodied, breathing hard, but unrelenting.