And the others? I'd rather rehabilitate the Kryptonian boy. That means that leaving Lashina alive gives me the best chance. She don't be happy if I kill the other Furies. On the other hand, is there any real way out of this that doesn't involve killing Grayven?
No. No there isn't.
Seriously, the universe is better off without Granny or Grayven-50.
Grayven 50 returns his attention to me, his eyes glowing again. I drop a bucket on his head and then create jet engine construct and blast myself across the room. Weak blaster shots pitter patter off my construct armour, and I intercept a ribbon from Lashina with the Sword of the Fallen. She tries to bind my weapon but her whip fails to entangle it before it slices the ribbon it two. She scowls under her mask and leaps at me with her severed weapon held between both hands so I slam a pile driver construct into her abdomen and shove her back.
Heh, block Grayven's line of sight, then secure a 'human' shield.
Granny Goodness spots where I'm heading just fast enough to turn away and scramble for cover, but not fast enough to actually get away. I strike her in the back with a smile on my face, only my right arm wrapping around her shoulders preventing the impact from sending her flying. Seize the Initiative.
"Granny-." So Grows-.
I'm assuming the 'So grows-' is from Granny there? Or was that the Renegade?
I draw the Sword of the Fallen with my left hand and slash it across her throat, blood spurting across the deck as her arteries are severed. I'm not sure whether wounds from the Sword will kill New Gods outright or just prevent regeneration, but that should do it in either case. I release her and cancel my jet construct, allowing her soon-to-be corpse to slam into the wall as I use my ring to absorb my momentum. She ragdolls, blood still spilling from the wound as her left hand tries to grip her throat and her left-.
Ooh, vicious.
I dart towards her and grab her Father Box before she can call up a new boom tube. Mine Now. Then I grab her by the hair and hold her up.
"Now-!"
Unwilling Servant [subverts] Seize the Initiative.
The omega beam from Grayven 50 hits her in the chest. Her body explodes, though fortunately for me it's a clean explosion without any of that unpleasant goo-splatter.
"Granny!" ˥ǝssous ˥ǝɐɹuǝp.
Niiice. One nasty threat removed with extreme prejudice and maximum trauma. And fascinating bit of godspeech there. Something coming undone in Lashina's mind? Or was that some aspect of the god-role?
Lashina's distraction allows Barda to get a solid hit to the top of her head, knocking her to the ground. Stompa and Mad Harriet appear somewhat discomported, while Bernadeth too busy dodging Rayner's strikes to pay it any attention. I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised that Grayven 50 did that. We did both agree that she needed to die, and he did prevent me from showing off. On the other hand, he just acted against a member of the group the Furies belong to. He'll have a harder time getting them under control.
Hell, they may aggro on him hard. No mercy for the slayer of their beloved Granny Goodness, and all that.
Whatever. I take a replacement daiklave out of subspace while frantically transmuting and x-ionising a series of metal darts just a little smaller than the eye openings of Grayven 50's armour. Then I march towards him. Unstoppable Advance.
His eyes glow and I grab a console, ripping it from the deck as I pass. The omega beams lance out and I move to interpose-. The beams slalom around to my left before darting back in, and I'm forced to dash forward to avoid being struck by them. They curve back around, but this time I just throw the console at them too quickly for Grayven 50 to redirect. I accelerate at the blast wave passes me.
Ah, the feeling when you work out a boss fight's AI patterns. Priceless.
Not Inviolate for long, jackass.
Grayven 50's eyes glow again and I raise my right arm, forming a coilgun and loading an x-ionised dart. Track, aim for the left eye, fire!
The red light seeping from his helmet flares slightly just before the dart hits home, but he-
"Agh!"
-staggers anyway, his right hand instinctively rising to shield his injured eye and incidentally blocking my shot at his other eye. No matter. Three paces, two paces-
Finally, some payback for the eyes!
He drops his hand and one-eye omega beams me, striking me in the chest. "I will strike you down!"
Aaaaaaaaaaagggghhh! The pain is-. My armour smoulders and my ring flickers, but I can't stop! Grayven 50 takes a step back as I keep coming, his eye glowing-
"I will make your power mine!" "Your power will become mine!"
I think the Ophidian would have something to say about that.
He give me a one-eyed glare. Not By Strength,-
Something.. changes…
I duck, and the radion beam goes over my head. Who-? I look in the direction it came from and just catch the muzzle of a radion beamer poking through a hush tube. Given how brutal we are there are only so many New Gods who could pull that off-. Kanto.
-By Guile.
Dammit, the New God of Assassins. At least the Renegade's instincts are good enough to prevent a ganking.
Orange light leaps out but the gun is withdrawn and the tube closes before it can penetrate. Great, my chest is still burning from the omega beam, my rib bones are.. humming, breathing hurts, and now this arsehole can make attacks of opportunity. And that wasn't a knockoff weapon like the thanagarians were using. The version used by Darkseid's personal assassin probably would punch through my ring-based defences.
And then your armor and your chest, and you'd not enjoy that at all.
I maintain two gun constructs, one loaded with darts and the other a cold gun. A freeze shot to his head probably won't kill him, but it will hurt. Rather than risk him wrecking my backup daiklave I keep it moving, swinging it in his direction. He's forced to assume a boxer's stance, his gauntlets up and ready to block serious shots as he backs up. I step forward a little quicker than he's expecting, blade slicing through his left guard. He retaliates immediately, right fist swinging at the flat of the blade -I pull it back- and then he surges forward, body checking me and pushing my daiklave aside. This close it's useless so I drop it, can't reach the Sword-.
His right eye glows next to my face as my ring and aero-discs struggle to keep me upright! Can't get the dart gun in place, but the cold gun-! I can't get a decent grip on him but I yank him left as best I can while tilting my head right-!
Grappling it is. Too bad they're so evenly matched.
The cold beam hits his left eye hole, the beam continuing to pour on as he tries to maintain his focus-.
"Ruuuuuugh!"
Brain Freeze
He loosens his grip, pushing me back as he turns his head away. The omega beam leaps out a moment later, but he targets my construct rather than anything vital. It's destroyed, but now I can bring my hands up. I grab the Sword of the Fallen and swing it at the crack in the side of his helmet-.
And a blur in black armour punts me across the room!
Dammit, the Super-son cock-blocked the killing blow!