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Will of The Force (Star Wars / Worm)
- Thread starter CapCaverna
- Start date
JustDusty
Very sore.
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You know, considering the reactions of millions of female fans to Anakin in star wars, you'd think he'd get to enjoy a little bit of pretty privilege in this world.
I mean the guy was on a freefall to depths of hell and you'd still find hordes of fans trying to justify every one of his actions.
I mean the guy was on a freefall to depths of hell and you'd still find hordes of fans trying to justify every one of his actions.
Enthessi
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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It's from a vial though right? Are those shards still apart of a network? It's been way too long since I read canon and I can't be bothered to try an look lol.
Liliam Aikawa's birth
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CapCaverna
Not too sore, are you?
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So, as a curiosity, Liliam Aikawa, the grandma, was based on a pretty funny Brazilian woman who once made a short YouTube video 19 years ago; she isn't the same, but the idea of her was born from my memories of the video... and god, it was 19 freaking years!
The video is in Portuguese, but they put subtitles in English. If anyone really wants to watch, it's funny as hell in my native lenguage, but I don't know if it hit's the same with just subtitles.
www.youtube.com
The video is in Portuguese, but they put subtitles in English. If anyone really wants to watch, it's funny as hell in my native lenguage, but I don't know if it hit's the same with just subtitles.
Slap The Panther (Tapa Na Pantera)
One of YouTube's biggest hits, "Tapa Na Pantera", now with subtitles.Starring Maria Alice Vergueiro.Directed by Esmir Filho, Mariana Bastos, Rafael Gomes.Pro...
www.youtube.com
zooba
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Logically it could go either way in a narrative. The Shards are VAST and their processing power beyond our comprehension, but they are also already being dominated in a way as they're a colony organism and The Force is an out of reference threat they haven't encountered or made failsafes to avoid contamination for.I mean, really, aren't shards more like Droids anyway? Anakin has a GREAT track record with those. I'm sure it'll be fine.
Razorfloss
Versed in the lewd.
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Its frankly amazing how many fics levi has killed
Unclouded
Unthawed Freeloader
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you -> your
minor typo
guilty -> guilt
minor typo
Thanks for the chapter.
Necrovore
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Ao Black
Just a normal bear.
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Man, Taylor being her 'Halpful' self huh? Good thing he's moving his people away, otherwise she may get her hand on a toddler or something to threaten him .
Thanks for the chapter, I'm definitely curious to see what effects Anakin messing with the shards can have.
.Thanks for the chapter, I'm definitely curious to see what effects Anakin messing with the shards can have.
ThunderBasilisk
Well Worn Bastion
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Stupid Taylor. Gonna find out real hard when she fucks around. And goddamn he dominated a shard!?(Also second triggered her I think but that's not important) I mean not that impressive I guess considering his track record but damn. Hope the Leviathan fight comes out clean! It's the Chunin Exams of Worm.
ProtoSovereign
Know what you're doing yet?
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Silly David, thinking he has chance to beat Anakin.
Barbaric_Bob
[Barbarus-Maximus]
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Shard: [ROGGER ROGGER]I mean, really, aren't shards more like Droids anyway? Anakin has a GREAT track record with those. I'm sure it'll be fine.
Chapter 36
New
CapCaverna
Not too sore, are you?
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Holy Crap, the latest chapter of Will really kicked my ass. I think I rewrote it at least five times. I haven't gotten any feedback from it yet, but I think I managed this one fairly well. I hope you guys enjoy it.
Next, I'll be updating Arcane, then I'll try to be back to this one, I'm aiming to post chapter 37 in a week, but you guys know me so...
__________________________________________________________-
Anakin looked towards the sea, a part of his attention still keeping the portal open while another made sure Marissa's power couldn't form a new star.
He wasn't interacting directly with the source of her powers, but dispersing any gathering heat as it started to appear around her body, and not in only one spot, but many around the room or even further out into the house.
Eyes narrowed, he tried to sense the 'Endbringer' as it approached, but it was impossible, the creature itself remaining hidden despite the way the Force screamed at him of danger. He knew the city would eventually be hit by a tsunami wave, but he couldn't feel the being doing it.
Briefly dismissing the incoming creature, he refocused on Marissa. The moment he had opened the portal, whatever was behind it seemed to have decided to kill her, causing her ability to go haywire, but it didn't completely change its rules.
For some reason, the source hadn't just formed a star inside her body, or even rescinded the protection from heat it granted her, but it was still trying to cause destruction.
Was it hoping that burning down the house around her would be enough to kill the woman, or maybe that it would force someone else to end her life?
With both hands around her head, Anakin closed his eyes, attempting to interact directly with the power, sending his presence in the Force through the opening and trying to grab hold of the creature or device.
It… failed, not because his power was rebuffed, not because it faced some manner of protective device that resisted him, not even because the Force was repelled by a Force-neutral bubble, as a ysalamiri lizard could.
No, it was as if the Force itself rejected the thing, be it in favor or against; the Force simply refused to interact with the source of the woman's powers, refused to touch it.
Not for the first time since coming to this planet, Anakin was confused, but this time it was at a far more fundamental level.
The Force was in everything; it surrounds and penetrates all living things and the universe itself. It is what binds the Galaxy together; that it rejected something went against everything he had been taught or read about, as both a Jedi and a Sith.
… What did it mean for the Force to reject something, to cut it off entirely?
Even a Force Wound, a place where something so terrible happened as to leave a scar in the fabric of the Galaxy, would not be so completely beyond… or perhaps the correct term would be beneath, the reach of the Force.
For a moment, Anakin continued to try to understand the source, but with the rain hitting his windows starting to increase in volume, and the creature approaching the city, he did not have enough time, so he retrieved his presence, allowing the portal to snap back to normal.
Marissa's power reverted to its previous state, dozens of points around the house where heat had started to gather vanishing like embers as the temperature stabilized.
Regardless, Anakin could still feel a sense of danger coming from the woman, Force Precognition showing him a brief image of a star growing faster than expected under her control, killing people she had not meant to hurt, forcing someone to neutralize her.
It seems as if opening the connection had triggered some manner of safety features.
It made sense; whoever created and distributed those powers clearly had gone through a lot of trouble hiding their origin. The death of a few experimental subjects would be an acceptable loss when they had tens of thousands available.
For a moment, Anakin debated blocking her power, using his understanding and control of the Force to slam the portal shut, similar to how he had blocked the youngling who tried to prevent him from reaching Dinah.
He dismissed the idea; it was dangerous, but he would not deprive her of her ability on the verge of being attacked.
Marissa gasped, sensing her control returning. "What… happened?"
"Your power did not wish to be studied, even now it remains unstable," Anakin said, starting to walk towards his room. "Get ready to leave with the rest of the gang, you will not be able to contribute to the battle that is coming."
"No, I can still…" Marissa started to say, her voice gaining strength.
"Opening your connection was not without consequences," Anakin interrupted, starting to walk towards his room. "Your ability is now far more dangerous to those around you. Do not use it unless you are left without options."
Through the Force, he could feel her growing horror at his words; the girl already hated and dreaded her power in equal measures, and the new development only made that worse.
Frustration, fear, guilt, anger, hate, self-loathing… her feelings poured out of her like water, wave after wave hitting him with growing strength.
Anakin had always been particularly good at sensing and understanding emotions, even more so than the average Jedi; it was letting go of them that he had trouble with.
That the girl was willing to participate in the battle of her own free will was a huge advancement, both as a way to come to terms with her dangerous power and to make up for her previous mistakes. Taking her chance away would affect her more than he expected.
Pausing at the door, he half turned his head. "The women you have been helping will be confused and afraid. They will need protection; you can still assist them."
Marissa swallowed, her emotions peaking, then she forcefully calmed herself and nodded, a new determination growing. Anakin continued moving.
Moving towards his room, the emotions in the city bombarded him, a growing sense of panic and helplessness, the low level of despair he had always felt in the city growing to overcome everything else.
The warning system gave them time, at least an hour to flee the city, to try and get into a shelter, and to be terrified, imagining what was coming.
It reminded him of his time as Vader, when he would personally move against a rebel base, his very presence driving both fighters and civilians mad with fear, when people knew, without a shadow of a doubt, they could do nothing to resist what was coming… They were not good memories.
Entering the room, Anakin waved a hand, Force Telekinesis moving the pieces of his armor towards his body, gauntlet, greaves and a padded chest plate made with local metals.
Protection hadn't been a priority, not when no 'parahuman' had been able to match him, the limited flexibility of their powers making them a poor match against a Force user, so Anakin hadn't spent the time or effort necessary to create durasteel or something more advanced, but it was still better than nothing.
Light enough not to interfere with movement, but good enough to block most slugs, and even a strike from Lung, allowing him to spend less concentration in protecting his vitals in a battle.
He doubted it would be a match for the creature, but it might disperse a glancing blow, giving him more options during the fight.
Clasping his lightsaber to his waist, Anakin walked out of the house, watching as Ms. Aikawa glared at the subordinate in charge of driving her away. The old woman wanted to drive the motorcycle they were using, but even she knew not to fight; she held a large cat carrier in a death grip, both cats hissing inside, as the young man helped her climb onto the vehicle.
"I talked with Tae-Soo," Marissa said, turning off her comlink and putting on a makeshift mask, her costume having been destroyed when her companion consumed her. "He's organizing the remainder of the gang as they flee the city. I'll go help."
Anakin nodded, watching the street. The rain was so heavy that it started to affect vision, and water began to accumulate on the roads as manholes struggled to deal with its sheer volume.
Finding the procedures for an Endbringer attack on the planet's version of the HoloNet had been easy enough; civilians were supposed to travel light, avoiding using cars so as to not block the roads, a truce was declared, any 'parahuman' crime being regarded as unacceptable by both sides of the law and 'parahumans' were to gather, the location being provided to any member of law enforcement in the city. It was one of the reasons the gang had acquired several motorcycles.
In practice, Anakin could already see a few cars driving through the water, the people inside too panicked to remember, or care about, the instructions.
One of his neighbors noticed him. The man froze, trying to pull on the leash of a large dog, the pet too confused and panicked, affected by the air of fear around his owner, but unable to understand what was happening.
Glancing at the animal, Anakin briefly used the Force to calm it down, then enhanced his body with Force Speed and moved, running towards the edge of the Bay where the creature would first arrive, his boots barely touching the wet ground.
People were flooding the streets, entire families desperately fleeing from the ocean as fast as they could, but the roads were already filled with cars, and he saw at least two accidents. The panic was starting to spread.
Choosing the tallest shop, Anakin enhanced his legs and Force Jumped as far as he could, taking another two steps along the wall and grabbing the edge, pulling himself up into the rooftop of the eight-storey building on the waterfront.
Out into the Bay, the Protectorate headquarters was safe, some kind of shield generator keeping the waves away from the retrofitted oil rig, and he could feel his Padawan's presence inside, only two minutes away at his full speed.
Through the storm, he sensed five parahumans flying to the left of him, moving to a gathering spot a few kilometers away, so he made a note of it, then lifted the arm with his comlink.
While his comlink worked at a fundamentally different level than a normal cellphone, having its own frequency and programming language to avoid being hacked, that did not mean it could not interact with the level of technology present on the planet.
Only a few minutes later, Anakin had gained access to the police, PRT, and even the Parahuman communication channel, mimicking the signal from bracelets being distributed to whoever showed up.
The method he used was crude, and he was sure Dragon or another Tinker could have found him out if they were paying attention, particularly if he wanted to change anything, but the imminent attack distracted them.
Searching for information, Anakin found that attendance for this battle was much higher than expected, even a single day of warning letting the PRT prepare hundreds of extra 'parahumans', getting them ready for transportation the second the Endbringer attack was confirmed.
He also saw the instructions to evacuate Dinah and her parents through the use of Strider, an independent capable of teleporting in large numbers, which the PRT had hired.
The only reason she was still in the city was that her parents had yet to arrive at the building, and Strider was too busy bringing new 'parahumans' into the city to prioritize two civilians.
Closing his eyes, Anakin debated ignoring the information and retrieving the girl; even now, he didn't despise the PRT, but they were incompetent, unable, or unwilling to deal with open criminals inside their city, and he did not trust them with the youngling's safety during such an attack.
They should have transported his padawan away the second his warning arrived.
Around him, the emotions in the city continued to grow frantic, a mixture of hysteria and dismay taking center place as the roads started becoming harder to move through and the shelters started to fill, then the first deaths hit him, the echoes of a father being trampled to death, face pushed into the water as he tried to protect his fallen son from the crowd hitting Anakin like a hammer.
He continued to stare at the PRT headquarters for a few seconds longer, everything in his body telling him to act, to run to the building, or even drag it through the water and rescue his padawan.
He knew he couldn't, not when it meant breaking the fragile truce, forcing every hero to attack him, only causing the horror to grow… He couldn't take that path again, he refused to.
Now that he was no longer drowning in the Dark side, no longer wallowing in guilt, self-hatred and pain to bury everything else, he couldn't ignore the rest of the city and the millions of innocents it housed.
He would just have to defeat the beast faster then, making sure it could not hurt her.
Instead of continuing to struggle against himself, Anakin closed his eyes and concentrated, not forgetting, but trying to accept the situation, and trying to find a way of helping.
He had never been particularly good at Battle Meditation; it was a discipline that required complete calm, concentration and a level of self-control that he struggled to achieve.
Despite that, he was still capable of doing it, even unconsciously. During the Clone Wars, his troops performed better when he was fighting by their side, and as Vader, his enemy's morale tended to collapse much faster than even his reputation demanded.
Now, he extended his presence through the city, using the Force to guide not just the members of the ABB still trying to escape with their families, but every person inside, the incoming threat uniting them all against a common enemy.
The effects weren't immediately noticeable; people didn't suddenly become calm, but they moved with more precision, and there were fewer collisions and disputes, with pets being more relaxed.
Parents instinctively knew the location of their family; those who fell were no longer trampled, people somehow stepping around them, even when being pushed or not paying attention, and even cars were less of a problem, several people suddenly understanding they wouldn't help.
The 'parahumans' too were affected, gathering faster and being calmer, the fear from the incoming Endbringer not entirely gone, but lessened to a degree that let them work.
Maintaining his balance was… challenging, his own emotions struggling to break through his control, and the fear, the terror of the civilians wasn't gone, continuing to bombard him like the incessant storm on the city, every drop of water filled with negativity.
A wall of wind seemed to come from the ocean, warm air rising through the buildings and causing his clothes to flap back, enough that a traffic sign broke free, smashing through a window in his building.
The rain turned into hail, large pieces of ice smashing into the rooftop around him, but Anakin continued to focus, a Force Shield instinctively keeping the solid projectiles from even touching him. All around the city, the evacuation was almost over.
For a second, his padawan was gone from his senses, every single person inside the PRT headquarters disappearing at once, the whiplash finally snapping him out of his Battle Meditation.
Looking back, Anakin felt their presence still disturbingly close to the city, a quick check through his comlink letting him know Dinah was at the PRT Endbringer shelter as far away from the waterline as possible.
Slowly, his hands closed into fists, something or someone had interfered in her evacuation, his padawan was still in the city and, while he realized she was safer than with him, and he could intercept any attempts by the creature to reach her, Dinah was still far too close for comfort.
Through the connection in his comlink, Anakin heard one of the Protectorate heroes speaking.
"... instead of jumping straight into the fray as we arrive, and in greater numbers than ever before," Legend spoke, Anakin recognized the voice from a record on the internet. "With this advantages, some luck, teamwork and hard effort from everyone, I hold out hope that this could be one of the good days."
Anakin looked at his comlink, he was no stranger to pre-battle speeches, or seemingly hopeless situations, but this seemed incredibly contradictory.
"But you should know your chances going in. With the record attendance, we hope to mitigate this, but given the statistics from our previous encounters with this beast, a 'good day' usually means one in four of the parahumans participating will probably be dead before this day is done."
Continuing to hear the speech, Anakin couldn't help frowning. It was informative, but that was it, only seeming to crush the morale of the participants. That, more than anything, told him they did not believe the beast could be slain, not truly.
He would have to prove them wrong.
"... Leviathan is primarily a hydrokinetic on a macro scale. There is no better illustration than the days where Leviathan won. Newfoundland, Canada, nearly half a million dead; the island simply gone as the waves collapsed it into the ocean. Before that, Kyushu, nine and a half million killed, nearly three million evacuees rendered homeless, a nation sundered when tidal waves hit it from every side.
"Back then, we had one strategy: to hem him in, minimize the effects of the growing waves he'd throw at us until he was beaten or Scion arrived, and it worked in what we now call hard targets, places that could survive repeated waves. Newfoundland and Kyushu were soft targets.
"Like them, Brockton Bay is a soft target; it has an aquifer originally used to provide fresh water, essentially an underground river, which we expect the creature to start manipulating to erode the surroundings as soon as he appears, adding the tidal waves from above…"
Anakin understood. The city, or at least a large part of it, would collapse into the aquifer, likely killing thousands, if not millions, who had been unable to flee or had chosen a shelter.
A warning through the Force made him stop listening to the announcement, three flying 'parahumans' quickly approaching his location.
The first was a tall woman who wore a black suit with a tower in the center, a heavy cape floating in the wind behind her as she carried herself with an air of competence. Anakin could feel her confidence, tempered by a hint of caution, against both him and the incoming threat.
Alexandria's power was both simple and surprisingly common among parahumans; she was strong, tough, and could fly. Anakin thought she was supposed to be a shock troop for the creator of those powers. However, she was the paragon example of those powers, stronger, tougher, and faster than others, and by an order of magnitude.
A few meters to her left, a man wearing a blue-green skintight suit, a heavy hood hid his head, a soft light escaping from under it as well as the sleeves of his suit, and a cape floated behind him.
Eidolon felt conflicted, he felt like a man with a purpose, a man who truly wanted to help, but he also felt as if he wanted, needed to leave his mark, to matter.
Anakin also felt a great deal of anger directed at him from the 'parahuman', far too much to be only a result of his reputation.
Eidolon could use any three powers at the same time, and he could change those powers depending on necessity. Anakin didn't know how fast that change happened, or if he needed to rest between changes, but the sheer number of powers the man could use was notable. He, more than anyone else in the planet, was dangerous, not for his raw power, but for his versatility.
The third parahuman was a towering woman, still human, but seven feet tall with pale purple hair. She wore a skintight costume made of fine crystalline scales to cover her body and had a three-foot-long horn on her forehead, standing atop a larger forcefield, the translucent creation moving with her.
Of the three, Anakin felt the most familiarity with her, the controlled feelings and hard drive marking her as a military woman, not unlike some of the leaders in the empire, or even the clone troopers.
"Susanoo," Alexandria said, keeping at least a few dozen feet away from him and analyzing him with her eyes. "We appreciate your warning. I see you already have access to the communication channels."
Her voice was muffled, the heavy hail making it almost impossible to hear anything but the impacts all around him, but Anakin turned her way, sensing both she and Eidolon would be able to understand him.
"I suspect Dragon did not try too hard to keep your channel secure," Anakin said. "Subverting the devices is significantly harder and far more noticeable than connecting to them."
"Will you be coordinating with us during the battle?" the woman asked, still floating in place.
Anakin's first instinct was to deny her, but he was trying to be better. In truth, overconfidence and pride had been major parts of his fall to the dark side, and only now, after weeks of meditation, could he truly admit that, even to himself.
It had been overconfidence that made him lose a hand against Doku during their first meeting, that made him take far too many risks, costing unnecessary lives during the Clone Wars… that made him lose to Obi-Wan during their confrontation.
It had been pride that made him see his elevation to the council without the rank of a master as an insult, a way to keep him back instead of a chance to prove himself, to work hard and show that he deserved it.
"If it proves necessary," he finally answered. He did not think it would be, but there was no harm in doing so, and he felt the Force shifting in approval.
Eidolon's hand closed into a fist at his perceived arrogance, a spike of aggression hitting the men, but Anakin sensed him crushing it with willpower, suppressing his dislike and concentrating on the good their cooperation could do.
The man instinctively didn't like him, but protecting people and keeping the city safe were a far greater priority, even if the truce didnt exist, Eidolon was unlikely to attack him unprovoked.
Narwhal floated closer, landing on the rooftop and using a small forcefield to throw one of the bracelets at him. "You're right, you're not getting into the main systems!" She shouted, raising her voice to be heard over the rain. "The bracelets have a few functions you'll need!"
Anakin used Force Telekinesis to catch the projectile, Narwhal's forcefield collapsing as soon as she sensed resistance, then he floated it to his face, not sensing any danger from the device.
A different spike of danger warned him, and he turned, using the Force to look beyond the bay into the wall of water coming his way. "It's here."
All four of them turned towards the bay, both Alexandria and Eidolon floating closer until they were only a few feet apart, then Anakin felt Eidolon's resolve hardening, the 'parahuman' pressing a button on his wrist.
"Hard Override," Eidolon said. "Leviathan arriving in 16 seconds, I'll block the first wave."
A bolt of lightning hit the street two blocks away from them, the thunder rattling every window in his building and temporarily illuminating the night sky, letting Anakin finally see the Tsunami, a single wave one hundred and fifteen feet tall and wide enough to cover the entire city.
Flying into the bay almost as fast as Anakin could move, Eidolon pointed one hand towards the wave, three golden forcefields large enough to cover most of the city forming in the wave's path, each one taller than the other.
With his other hand, the 'parahuman' pointed at the wave, and Anakin felt gravity answering, trying to push the water down.
The wave hit the first forcefield, a deafening impact shaking the city as the shield shattered, the wave starting to crash and losing a few feet of height. Then it hit the second and the third, growing weaker with each successive impact.
Instead of one wave, the result was three far smaller ones, each only about 30 feet high, Leviathan's power being used to resist Eidolon's gravity control and keep the water moving forward, likely trying to unite the waves again to regain some of the lost strength.
Concentrating, Anakin used Force Sight, enhancing his eyes to look through the heavy rain, finally seeing the creature's shadow in the middle of the wave.
Extending a hand to the side, palm up, Anakin used Force Telekinesis to gather metal, ripping it from the waterfront, then he slowly closed his fist, compacting it into a two-meter-long spike.
The first wave started to reach the Bay, the water hitting the PRT headquarters' shield and parting around it, the water starting to merge with the second wave even as the third one picked up speed.
With a sonic boom, the metal projectile he created flew, hitting the second wave with enough strength to locally disperse the water and hit the creature's chest, sending it flying back into the third.
Anakin narrowed his eyes, sensing his attack had barely pierced its body.
All three waves finally reached the shore one after another, water filling the streets and covering the first floor of every building. They had lost most of their force, but were still powerful enough to push cars, debris, and trash around with enough strength to hurt an average person or sweep them off their feet.
Above the water, Eidolon desperately dodged aside and put another barrier around his body, Leviathan having thrown the metal spike with such force it clipped the shield, sending the 'parahuman' tumbling through the air.
Alexandria moved, flying up to try and locate the creature while Narwhal used her force fields to rise into the air, moving back while swooping her head back and forth.
All around, flying parahumans rose from the buildings, moving with purpose to try and locate the creature, but the hail was making things extremely difficult.
With a crack of displaced air, Strider appeared only two blocks away from him, several 'parahumans' teleporting to the frontlines and spreading around the waterfront, another crack and he was gone.
Finally, the water started to retreat, dragging bikes, smaller cars, trash, and broken glass in a dangerous combination as it formed rivers at least three feet deep on every street, the current dragging one of the 'parahumans' off their feet.
Anakin moved, stepping into the parapet and using Force Speed to throw himself towards the man, lightsaber flying to his hand and igniting with a blue light while his other hand pointed at the building, tore a piece of its wall and sent it flying towards the man.
He underestimated the beast's speed in the water, Leviathan exploding out of the ocean with devastating speed to fall on all fours on the street, one clawed hand crushing the fallen man against the asphalt before he could defend himself.
The beast's tail, nearly fifty feet long, lashed out, hitting another woman with enough strength to cut her in half and sending a wave of water, the substance materializing where the limb had been and keeping its momentum like a shadow that hit a third, sending him flying back.
Then Anakin's projectile hit the creature, metal and concrete exploding on impact with enough force to send it stumbling away from the remaining parahumans, tons of water falling off the beast as it moved, looking as if they were an afterimage of the Endbringer.
From his armband, Anakin heard the announcement. Carapacitor deceased. WCM deceased. Saurian down.
The creature slightly reminded him of the Zilo beast, thirty feet tall, it had green skin and a disproportionate upper body, with hunched shoulders and corded muscles on its neck, thin arms and legs that ended in massive claws.
Its face was almost smooth, lacking a mouth, nose, or ears, but it had four cracks with glowing green orbs for eyes, one on the right side and three on the left, all of them seeming to focus on Anakin for a second.
A few blasts hit the creature's body from the closest flyers, but he could see they had only done cosmetic damage, not piercing deeper than an inch or two. Slowly, it rose on two feet, leaving a shadow of water as it moved, enough liquid to match its mass.
Dropping into the road, Anakin felt the receding water parting around his Force Shield, some of it evaporating as it touched the ignited lightsaber and leaving a cloud of steam around his body.
Focusing on Leviathan for a moment, he tried to feel it with the Force, but it simply flowed around the creature, rejecting its existence almost the same way it had rejected the source of Marissa's powers.
It wasn't entirely the same. Anakin felt like the Force didn't reject it quite as completely as it did the source, but it would be incredibly difficult to directly affect the beast.
One of the gathered 'parahumans' attacked. Body camouflaged in the rain, he was barely visible as he struck Leviathan's back leg with an axe of ice, the edge digging an inch into the skin before stopping.
Leviathan snapped with one arm, the man released his axe, weapon dissolving into ice crystals as he dodged a claw strike, but Leviathan's water shadow still hit him, the liquid moving fast enough to sever one of his legs.
Anakin started to walk towards the creature, his Force presence spreading through the street, Force Telekinesis ripping apart buildings and pieces of the road, almost large enough to match the creature, prying the metal from them to gather in the air.
Second wave incoming, interference team to the third gathering point. His wristguard said, but Anakin ignored it.
Leviathan tried to lunge at him, but he lost his footing as Anakin ripped the ground from under him, tons of debris starting to float up, enough to almost completely block the rain from reaching them.
Then the larger pieces of concrete bombarded the beast, leaving only metal in the air, a growing maelstrom of metallic colors. If he couldn't affect the creature, he'd surround it, crushing it with compacted metal until it couldn't generate enough leverage to move.
Even using Force Speed, Leviathan was still blindingly fast, his extremely long tail lashing out, wrapping around the waist of a boy, then the neck of a man covered in metal and throwing them at Anakin, his front arms lashing out and sending two water shadows at him.
Anakin caught both men in his maelstrom of Force Telekinesis, using enough control to keep them safe as they were moved aside, but the older man's neck had snapped. Jotun down, Fierceling down, Adamant deceased.
He dropped his Force Shield, letting some of the rain start to fall over his clothes and instead using Force Push to smash Leviathan's water shadow, exploding it into small droplets of water before sending them back at the creature.
Leviathan finally managed to dig one of his front claws into the water, launching himself on all four towards Anakin, his limbs moving fast enough they barely broke surface tension, water falling off its body to fill the space it left behind by the tons.
Anakin used Force Telekinesis to increase his bombardment of the creature, pieces of asphalt, huge parts of houses and entire floors from nearby apartments dropping on its head, but the beast was fast enough and resistant enough to Battle Precognition that only a few could hit it, caving in a part of its head.
It didn't slow down.
The entire time, Anakin's Force Telekinesis gathered metal, compressing it into thick, dense sheaths, almost enough to fully envelop the creature.
Even then, he knew they wouldn't be enough to contain the beast, but he could keep using Force Telekinesis on them, increasing the pressure until he either crushed the beast, or melted it with heat.
In the unlikely event that he could not create enough pressure to kill the monster, he could hold it in place and ask for one of Bakuda's bombs the PRT had acquired, or even throw it into space; he just had to gather enough material to make sure it couldn't escape.
To his side, another house collapsed, ripped off the ground, most of the useless materials being dropped, but the metal separated to float around them.
The tip of Leviathan's tail made a cracking noise as it broke through the sound barrier, all fifty feet of it lashing out at Anakin from the very edge of its reach.
Eyes widening, Anakin was forced to jump back, only the constant use of Force Speed saving him as the extended limb passed a foot from his face, his Battle precognition unable to predict the beast's body.
The resulting water shadow moved almost as fast, but Anakin had already blasted it with a Force Push, water exploding only a couple of inches from his face and soaking his clothes.
He narrowed his eyes at the beast. That had been faster than in any of the videos about the creature available on their equivalent of the HoloNet. For the first time since coming to the planet, something was proving to be a challenge.
Ever since the battle started, Anakin had been pushing his Battle Precognition as much as possible. The beast may be nearly immune to it, but its water shadow and all other environmental hazards weren't, and despite the so-called truce, he could always be targeted by another 'parahuman'.
He was also constantly using his Force Speed to its maximum; it was usually unnecessary with Battle Precognition, but Leviathan was immune, and he was not arrogant enough to engage the beast without being able to follow its movements.
Then there was his Force Telekinesis, constantly closing the trap around Leviathan; it was very far from the full extent of his power, but it did require a modicum of effort to maintain.
Keeping his attention split in so many directions at the same time was not beyond him, but doing so for the entire battle was starting to take a toll, if barely.
Leviathan continued to come closer, its tail lashing out a second time. Anakin stepped aside, lightsaber flashing out in a blue arc of light and severing half a foot off the limb, Anakin noticing a brief resistance at the very middle.
Were its denser parts resistant to a lightsaber?
Then he ducked, letting the water shadow from the tail pass over his head as he blasted a second one from a claw strike, the beast only a dozen feet in front of him.
The Force screamed in his mind, the warning coming from all sides, but particularly from the ocean, making him widen his eyes.
The 'parahumans' had failed to completely stop the second wave; it was about to hit him.
Leviathan lunged, claws trying to slice him in half.
Anakin stepped forward and ducked low, his lightsaber cutting a path along the creature's arm but starting to slide off near the elbow, the material too dense to be cut.
His lightsaber could probably still melt the creature's flesh, but it was like attacking a reinforced plasteel door; it would take time.
Forced into Form III, Anakin used Soresu to dodge and retaliate at a kick, then he redirected another claw strike with his lightsaber and almost severed another 20 feet of its tail.
Anakin switched forms, turning to Form IV and piercing its chest, testing the density there before pouring as much power into his body as he could, enhancing his muscles to deliver a devastating slash at the beast's neck before it could recover, letting the Force guide his aim.
He would have tried to further enhance the blade with the Force, but he knew it was useless against this particular enemy.
Leviathan jumped back, moving at full speed, but his lightsaber still cut deeply towards the center of its chest, digging five inches into the flesh before its resistance stopped further damage.
Moving with Force Speed, the entire exchange only lasted for a couple of seconds, but it had destroyed nearly a mile of the waterfront and left even him feeling the effects of an adrenaline rush.
They separated, and Anakin jumped back as far as he could, a manhole exploding where he had just been as a thick pillar of water rose seventy feet into the air, then Alexandria hit the creature, smashing it straight down hard enough that it formed a crater, causing everything to shake around them.
Unidentified object entering airspace, Legend acting to intercept, Eidolon recovering and ready to re-engage for the third wave. Anakin could hear the warning coming from Alexandria's armband.
Extending an arm, Anakin dropped his Force Speed and Telekinesis for a moment, focusing fully on shielding himself as the Tsunami crashed on top of him, a wave more than a hundred feet tall, smashing into his shield and breaking the entire waterfront of the city, most of the street collapsing into the beach.
Intrepid down. Humble down. Brigandine deceased. Escutcheon deceas…
Anakin shook his head at the armband, the thing seemingly designed to further destroy morale, determination and despair struggling for control of every 'parahuman' he could sense in the city as the list of death or disabled grew.
The wave ended, and he dropped his Force Shield, revealing the utter devastation of the waterline, almost eighty percent of the buildings having collapsed.
He used Force Speed again, moving towards the crater.
Alexandria punched the beast once more, her fist piercing through the slash of his lightsaber and enlarging the wound, then she did it again.
Leviathan wasn't quiet, his tail was half severed, but he still had enough control to wrap it around one of her legs and smash her into the side of the crater twice as he rose into a standing position.
Stepping on her head with the claws on one digitigrade foot, he pushed her down into the crater, which had almost filled to the brim with water from his movements, all four of his eyes ignoring everything else but Anakin as he started to drown the invulnerable woman.
Another two fliers passed by the location, blasting the Endbringer's leg with some kind of green energy, but he showed no signs of feeling any pain.
Narwhal finally arrived, sending three shards of light in a straight line towards the beast while continuing to approach. Leviathan simply whipped his tail up without looking, throwing Alexandria's body at her.
The Endbringer's makeshift projectile hit two of the shards, destroying them midair, but he was forced to dodge the third.
Alexandria's armband activated again, but Anakin didn't have time to listen to it, focusing on the beast and waving a hand, the metal he had prepared rose into the air all around him.
Legend down.
Leviathan turned and tried to run, but another flier hit his head with enough strength to delay him, the man almost getting decapitated by a claw for his assistance.
With another effort of will, Anakin sent every piece of metal he had gathered at the Endbringer, at least thirty tons of material encircling it from all sides.
Leviathan struggled, water flying from all around him as he tried to create space to move.
Anakin closed his hand, squeezing the metal around the beast with such strength that it groaned, each piece molding to the other and slowly collapsing into a ball shape, water leaking from minuscule openings.
Deactivating his lightsaber, he clasped it to his waist and lifted both hands towards the almost perfect ball of metal, his Force Telekinesis squeezing so hard it had grown red with heat.
The Force screamed at him, a warning so loud he almost lost control, something insidious trying to worm its way into his mind and being violently repelled. Anakin looked up, seeing almost a hundred balls of fire falling through the air, almost like drop pods.
Far closer to the ground, however, was a large piece of artificial satellite, more than a ton of metal thrown at near terminal velocity towards… his apprentice's shelter.
From the entire city, the feeling of terror and despair exploded, quickly overwhelming what little hope or determination there had been before, the Force crying out as thousands of people mentally collapsed.
Less than a mile behind the satellite, among the heavy rain and hail, a new Endbringer descended into the city.
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Next, I'll be updating Arcane, then I'll try to be back to this one, I'm aiming to post chapter 37 in a week, but you guys know me so...
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Anakin looked towards the sea, a part of his attention still keeping the portal open while another made sure Marissa's power couldn't form a new star.
He wasn't interacting directly with the source of her powers, but dispersing any gathering heat as it started to appear around her body, and not in only one spot, but many around the room or even further out into the house.
Eyes narrowed, he tried to sense the 'Endbringer' as it approached, but it was impossible, the creature itself remaining hidden despite the way the Force screamed at him of danger. He knew the city would eventually be hit by a tsunami wave, but he couldn't feel the being doing it.
Briefly dismissing the incoming creature, he refocused on Marissa. The moment he had opened the portal, whatever was behind it seemed to have decided to kill her, causing her ability to go haywire, but it didn't completely change its rules.
For some reason, the source hadn't just formed a star inside her body, or even rescinded the protection from heat it granted her, but it was still trying to cause destruction.
Was it hoping that burning down the house around her would be enough to kill the woman, or maybe that it would force someone else to end her life?
With both hands around her head, Anakin closed his eyes, attempting to interact directly with the power, sending his presence in the Force through the opening and trying to grab hold of the creature or device.
It… failed, not because his power was rebuffed, not because it faced some manner of protective device that resisted him, not even because the Force was repelled by a Force-neutral bubble, as a ysalamiri lizard could.
No, it was as if the Force itself rejected the thing, be it in favor or against; the Force simply refused to interact with the source of the woman's powers, refused to touch it.
Not for the first time since coming to this planet, Anakin was confused, but this time it was at a far more fundamental level.
The Force was in everything; it surrounds and penetrates all living things and the universe itself. It is what binds the Galaxy together; that it rejected something went against everything he had been taught or read about, as both a Jedi and a Sith.
… What did it mean for the Force to reject something, to cut it off entirely?
Even a Force Wound, a place where something so terrible happened as to leave a scar in the fabric of the Galaxy, would not be so completely beyond… or perhaps the correct term would be beneath, the reach of the Force.
For a moment, Anakin continued to try to understand the source, but with the rain hitting his windows starting to increase in volume, and the creature approaching the city, he did not have enough time, so he retrieved his presence, allowing the portal to snap back to normal.
Marissa's power reverted to its previous state, dozens of points around the house where heat had started to gather vanishing like embers as the temperature stabilized.
Regardless, Anakin could still feel a sense of danger coming from the woman, Force Precognition showing him a brief image of a star growing faster than expected under her control, killing people she had not meant to hurt, forcing someone to neutralize her.
It seems as if opening the connection had triggered some manner of safety features.
It made sense; whoever created and distributed those powers clearly had gone through a lot of trouble hiding their origin. The death of a few experimental subjects would be an acceptable loss when they had tens of thousands available.
For a moment, Anakin debated blocking her power, using his understanding and control of the Force to slam the portal shut, similar to how he had blocked the youngling who tried to prevent him from reaching Dinah.
He dismissed the idea; it was dangerous, but he would not deprive her of her ability on the verge of being attacked.
Marissa gasped, sensing her control returning. "What… happened?"
"Your power did not wish to be studied, even now it remains unstable," Anakin said, starting to walk towards his room. "Get ready to leave with the rest of the gang, you will not be able to contribute to the battle that is coming."
"No, I can still…" Marissa started to say, her voice gaining strength.
"Opening your connection was not without consequences," Anakin interrupted, starting to walk towards his room. "Your ability is now far more dangerous to those around you. Do not use it unless you are left without options."
Through the Force, he could feel her growing horror at his words; the girl already hated and dreaded her power in equal measures, and the new development only made that worse.
Frustration, fear, guilt, anger, hate, self-loathing… her feelings poured out of her like water, wave after wave hitting him with growing strength.
Anakin had always been particularly good at sensing and understanding emotions, even more so than the average Jedi; it was letting go of them that he had trouble with.
That the girl was willing to participate in the battle of her own free will was a huge advancement, both as a way to come to terms with her dangerous power and to make up for her previous mistakes. Taking her chance away would affect her more than he expected.
Pausing at the door, he half turned his head. "The women you have been helping will be confused and afraid. They will need protection; you can still assist them."
Marissa swallowed, her emotions peaking, then she forcefully calmed herself and nodded, a new determination growing. Anakin continued moving.
Moving towards his room, the emotions in the city bombarded him, a growing sense of panic and helplessness, the low level of despair he had always felt in the city growing to overcome everything else.
The warning system gave them time, at least an hour to flee the city, to try and get into a shelter, and to be terrified, imagining what was coming.
It reminded him of his time as Vader, when he would personally move against a rebel base, his very presence driving both fighters and civilians mad with fear, when people knew, without a shadow of a doubt, they could do nothing to resist what was coming… They were not good memories.
Entering the room, Anakin waved a hand, Force Telekinesis moving the pieces of his armor towards his body, gauntlet, greaves and a padded chest plate made with local metals.
Protection hadn't been a priority, not when no 'parahuman' had been able to match him, the limited flexibility of their powers making them a poor match against a Force user, so Anakin hadn't spent the time or effort necessary to create durasteel or something more advanced, but it was still better than nothing.
Light enough not to interfere with movement, but good enough to block most slugs, and even a strike from Lung, allowing him to spend less concentration in protecting his vitals in a battle.
He doubted it would be a match for the creature, but it might disperse a glancing blow, giving him more options during the fight.
Clasping his lightsaber to his waist, Anakin walked out of the house, watching as Ms. Aikawa glared at the subordinate in charge of driving her away. The old woman wanted to drive the motorcycle they were using, but even she knew not to fight; she held a large cat carrier in a death grip, both cats hissing inside, as the young man helped her climb onto the vehicle.
"I talked with Tae-Soo," Marissa said, turning off her comlink and putting on a makeshift mask, her costume having been destroyed when her companion consumed her. "He's organizing the remainder of the gang as they flee the city. I'll go help."
Anakin nodded, watching the street. The rain was so heavy that it started to affect vision, and water began to accumulate on the roads as manholes struggled to deal with its sheer volume.
Finding the procedures for an Endbringer attack on the planet's version of the HoloNet had been easy enough; civilians were supposed to travel light, avoiding using cars so as to not block the roads, a truce was declared, any 'parahuman' crime being regarded as unacceptable by both sides of the law and 'parahumans' were to gather, the location being provided to any member of law enforcement in the city. It was one of the reasons the gang had acquired several motorcycles.
In practice, Anakin could already see a few cars driving through the water, the people inside too panicked to remember, or care about, the instructions.
One of his neighbors noticed him. The man froze, trying to pull on the leash of a large dog, the pet too confused and panicked, affected by the air of fear around his owner, but unable to understand what was happening.
Glancing at the animal, Anakin briefly used the Force to calm it down, then enhanced his body with Force Speed and moved, running towards the edge of the Bay where the creature would first arrive, his boots barely touching the wet ground.
People were flooding the streets, entire families desperately fleeing from the ocean as fast as they could, but the roads were already filled with cars, and he saw at least two accidents. The panic was starting to spread.
Choosing the tallest shop, Anakin enhanced his legs and Force Jumped as far as he could, taking another two steps along the wall and grabbing the edge, pulling himself up into the rooftop of the eight-storey building on the waterfront.
Out into the Bay, the Protectorate headquarters was safe, some kind of shield generator keeping the waves away from the retrofitted oil rig, and he could feel his Padawan's presence inside, only two minutes away at his full speed.
Through the storm, he sensed five parahumans flying to the left of him, moving to a gathering spot a few kilometers away, so he made a note of it, then lifted the arm with his comlink.
While his comlink worked at a fundamentally different level than a normal cellphone, having its own frequency and programming language to avoid being hacked, that did not mean it could not interact with the level of technology present on the planet.
Only a few minutes later, Anakin had gained access to the police, PRT, and even the Parahuman communication channel, mimicking the signal from bracelets being distributed to whoever showed up.
The method he used was crude, and he was sure Dragon or another Tinker could have found him out if they were paying attention, particularly if he wanted to change anything, but the imminent attack distracted them.
Searching for information, Anakin found that attendance for this battle was much higher than expected, even a single day of warning letting the PRT prepare hundreds of extra 'parahumans', getting them ready for transportation the second the Endbringer attack was confirmed.
He also saw the instructions to evacuate Dinah and her parents through the use of Strider, an independent capable of teleporting in large numbers, which the PRT had hired.
The only reason she was still in the city was that her parents had yet to arrive at the building, and Strider was too busy bringing new 'parahumans' into the city to prioritize two civilians.
Closing his eyes, Anakin debated ignoring the information and retrieving the girl; even now, he didn't despise the PRT, but they were incompetent, unable, or unwilling to deal with open criminals inside their city, and he did not trust them with the youngling's safety during such an attack.
They should have transported his padawan away the second his warning arrived.
Around him, the emotions in the city continued to grow frantic, a mixture of hysteria and dismay taking center place as the roads started becoming harder to move through and the shelters started to fill, then the first deaths hit him, the echoes of a father being trampled to death, face pushed into the water as he tried to protect his fallen son from the crowd hitting Anakin like a hammer.
He continued to stare at the PRT headquarters for a few seconds longer, everything in his body telling him to act, to run to the building, or even drag it through the water and rescue his padawan.
He knew he couldn't, not when it meant breaking the fragile truce, forcing every hero to attack him, only causing the horror to grow… He couldn't take that path again, he refused to.
Now that he was no longer drowning in the Dark side, no longer wallowing in guilt, self-hatred and pain to bury everything else, he couldn't ignore the rest of the city and the millions of innocents it housed.
He would just have to defeat the beast faster then, making sure it could not hurt her.
Instead of continuing to struggle against himself, Anakin closed his eyes and concentrated, not forgetting, but trying to accept the situation, and trying to find a way of helping.
He had never been particularly good at Battle Meditation; it was a discipline that required complete calm, concentration and a level of self-control that he struggled to achieve.
Despite that, he was still capable of doing it, even unconsciously. During the Clone Wars, his troops performed better when he was fighting by their side, and as Vader, his enemy's morale tended to collapse much faster than even his reputation demanded.
Now, he extended his presence through the city, using the Force to guide not just the members of the ABB still trying to escape with their families, but every person inside, the incoming threat uniting them all against a common enemy.
The effects weren't immediately noticeable; people didn't suddenly become calm, but they moved with more precision, and there were fewer collisions and disputes, with pets being more relaxed.
Parents instinctively knew the location of their family; those who fell were no longer trampled, people somehow stepping around them, even when being pushed or not paying attention, and even cars were less of a problem, several people suddenly understanding they wouldn't help.
The 'parahumans' too were affected, gathering faster and being calmer, the fear from the incoming Endbringer not entirely gone, but lessened to a degree that let them work.
Maintaining his balance was… challenging, his own emotions struggling to break through his control, and the fear, the terror of the civilians wasn't gone, continuing to bombard him like the incessant storm on the city, every drop of water filled with negativity.
A wall of wind seemed to come from the ocean, warm air rising through the buildings and causing his clothes to flap back, enough that a traffic sign broke free, smashing through a window in his building.
The rain turned into hail, large pieces of ice smashing into the rooftop around him, but Anakin continued to focus, a Force Shield instinctively keeping the solid projectiles from even touching him. All around the city, the evacuation was almost over.
For a second, his padawan was gone from his senses, every single person inside the PRT headquarters disappearing at once, the whiplash finally snapping him out of his Battle Meditation.
Looking back, Anakin felt their presence still disturbingly close to the city, a quick check through his comlink letting him know Dinah was at the PRT Endbringer shelter as far away from the waterline as possible.
Slowly, his hands closed into fists, something or someone had interfered in her evacuation, his padawan was still in the city and, while he realized she was safer than with him, and he could intercept any attempts by the creature to reach her, Dinah was still far too close for comfort.
Through the connection in his comlink, Anakin heard one of the Protectorate heroes speaking.
"... instead of jumping straight into the fray as we arrive, and in greater numbers than ever before," Legend spoke, Anakin recognized the voice from a record on the internet. "With this advantages, some luck, teamwork and hard effort from everyone, I hold out hope that this could be one of the good days."
Anakin looked at his comlink, he was no stranger to pre-battle speeches, or seemingly hopeless situations, but this seemed incredibly contradictory.
"But you should know your chances going in. With the record attendance, we hope to mitigate this, but given the statistics from our previous encounters with this beast, a 'good day' usually means one in four of the parahumans participating will probably be dead before this day is done."
Continuing to hear the speech, Anakin couldn't help frowning. It was informative, but that was it, only seeming to crush the morale of the participants. That, more than anything, told him they did not believe the beast could be slain, not truly.
He would have to prove them wrong.
"... Leviathan is primarily a hydrokinetic on a macro scale. There is no better illustration than the days where Leviathan won. Newfoundland, Canada, nearly half a million dead; the island simply gone as the waves collapsed it into the ocean. Before that, Kyushu, nine and a half million killed, nearly three million evacuees rendered homeless, a nation sundered when tidal waves hit it from every side.
"Back then, we had one strategy: to hem him in, minimize the effects of the growing waves he'd throw at us until he was beaten or Scion arrived, and it worked in what we now call hard targets, places that could survive repeated waves. Newfoundland and Kyushu were soft targets.
"Like them, Brockton Bay is a soft target; it has an aquifer originally used to provide fresh water, essentially an underground river, which we expect the creature to start manipulating to erode the surroundings as soon as he appears, adding the tidal waves from above…"
Anakin understood. The city, or at least a large part of it, would collapse into the aquifer, likely killing thousands, if not millions, who had been unable to flee or had chosen a shelter.
A warning through the Force made him stop listening to the announcement, three flying 'parahumans' quickly approaching his location.
The first was a tall woman who wore a black suit with a tower in the center, a heavy cape floating in the wind behind her as she carried herself with an air of competence. Anakin could feel her confidence, tempered by a hint of caution, against both him and the incoming threat.
Alexandria's power was both simple and surprisingly common among parahumans; she was strong, tough, and could fly. Anakin thought she was supposed to be a shock troop for the creator of those powers. However, she was the paragon example of those powers, stronger, tougher, and faster than others, and by an order of magnitude.
A few meters to her left, a man wearing a blue-green skintight suit, a heavy hood hid his head, a soft light escaping from under it as well as the sleeves of his suit, and a cape floated behind him.
Eidolon felt conflicted, he felt like a man with a purpose, a man who truly wanted to help, but he also felt as if he wanted, needed to leave his mark, to matter.
Anakin also felt a great deal of anger directed at him from the 'parahuman', far too much to be only a result of his reputation.
Eidolon could use any three powers at the same time, and he could change those powers depending on necessity. Anakin didn't know how fast that change happened, or if he needed to rest between changes, but the sheer number of powers the man could use was notable. He, more than anyone else in the planet, was dangerous, not for his raw power, but for his versatility.
The third parahuman was a towering woman, still human, but seven feet tall with pale purple hair. She wore a skintight costume made of fine crystalline scales to cover her body and had a three-foot-long horn on her forehead, standing atop a larger forcefield, the translucent creation moving with her.
Of the three, Anakin felt the most familiarity with her, the controlled feelings and hard drive marking her as a military woman, not unlike some of the leaders in the empire, or even the clone troopers.
"Susanoo," Alexandria said, keeping at least a few dozen feet away from him and analyzing him with her eyes. "We appreciate your warning. I see you already have access to the communication channels."
Her voice was muffled, the heavy hail making it almost impossible to hear anything but the impacts all around him, but Anakin turned her way, sensing both she and Eidolon would be able to understand him.
"I suspect Dragon did not try too hard to keep your channel secure," Anakin said. "Subverting the devices is significantly harder and far more noticeable than connecting to them."
"Will you be coordinating with us during the battle?" the woman asked, still floating in place.
Anakin's first instinct was to deny her, but he was trying to be better. In truth, overconfidence and pride had been major parts of his fall to the dark side, and only now, after weeks of meditation, could he truly admit that, even to himself.
It had been overconfidence that made him lose a hand against Doku during their first meeting, that made him take far too many risks, costing unnecessary lives during the Clone Wars… that made him lose to Obi-Wan during their confrontation.
It had been pride that made him see his elevation to the council without the rank of a master as an insult, a way to keep him back instead of a chance to prove himself, to work hard and show that he deserved it.
"If it proves necessary," he finally answered. He did not think it would be, but there was no harm in doing so, and he felt the Force shifting in approval.
Eidolon's hand closed into a fist at his perceived arrogance, a spike of aggression hitting the men, but Anakin sensed him crushing it with willpower, suppressing his dislike and concentrating on the good their cooperation could do.
The man instinctively didn't like him, but protecting people and keeping the city safe were a far greater priority, even if the truce didnt exist, Eidolon was unlikely to attack him unprovoked.
Narwhal floated closer, landing on the rooftop and using a small forcefield to throw one of the bracelets at him. "You're right, you're not getting into the main systems!" She shouted, raising her voice to be heard over the rain. "The bracelets have a few functions you'll need!"
Anakin used Force Telekinesis to catch the projectile, Narwhal's forcefield collapsing as soon as she sensed resistance, then he floated it to his face, not sensing any danger from the device.
A different spike of danger warned him, and he turned, using the Force to look beyond the bay into the wall of water coming his way. "It's here."
All four of them turned towards the bay, both Alexandria and Eidolon floating closer until they were only a few feet apart, then Anakin felt Eidolon's resolve hardening, the 'parahuman' pressing a button on his wrist.
"Hard Override," Eidolon said. "Leviathan arriving in 16 seconds, I'll block the first wave."
A bolt of lightning hit the street two blocks away from them, the thunder rattling every window in his building and temporarily illuminating the night sky, letting Anakin finally see the Tsunami, a single wave one hundred and fifteen feet tall and wide enough to cover the entire city.
Flying into the bay almost as fast as Anakin could move, Eidolon pointed one hand towards the wave, three golden forcefields large enough to cover most of the city forming in the wave's path, each one taller than the other.
With his other hand, the 'parahuman' pointed at the wave, and Anakin felt gravity answering, trying to push the water down.
The wave hit the first forcefield, a deafening impact shaking the city as the shield shattered, the wave starting to crash and losing a few feet of height. Then it hit the second and the third, growing weaker with each successive impact.
Instead of one wave, the result was three far smaller ones, each only about 30 feet high, Leviathan's power being used to resist Eidolon's gravity control and keep the water moving forward, likely trying to unite the waves again to regain some of the lost strength.
Concentrating, Anakin used Force Sight, enhancing his eyes to look through the heavy rain, finally seeing the creature's shadow in the middle of the wave.
Extending a hand to the side, palm up, Anakin used Force Telekinesis to gather metal, ripping it from the waterfront, then he slowly closed his fist, compacting it into a two-meter-long spike.
The first wave started to reach the Bay, the water hitting the PRT headquarters' shield and parting around it, the water starting to merge with the second wave even as the third one picked up speed.
With a sonic boom, the metal projectile he created flew, hitting the second wave with enough strength to locally disperse the water and hit the creature's chest, sending it flying back into the third.
Anakin narrowed his eyes, sensing his attack had barely pierced its body.
All three waves finally reached the shore one after another, water filling the streets and covering the first floor of every building. They had lost most of their force, but were still powerful enough to push cars, debris, and trash around with enough strength to hurt an average person or sweep them off their feet.
Above the water, Eidolon desperately dodged aside and put another barrier around his body, Leviathan having thrown the metal spike with such force it clipped the shield, sending the 'parahuman' tumbling through the air.
Alexandria moved, flying up to try and locate the creature while Narwhal used her force fields to rise into the air, moving back while swooping her head back and forth.
All around, flying parahumans rose from the buildings, moving with purpose to try and locate the creature, but the hail was making things extremely difficult.
With a crack of displaced air, Strider appeared only two blocks away from him, several 'parahumans' teleporting to the frontlines and spreading around the waterfront, another crack and he was gone.
Finally, the water started to retreat, dragging bikes, smaller cars, trash, and broken glass in a dangerous combination as it formed rivers at least three feet deep on every street, the current dragging one of the 'parahumans' off their feet.
Anakin moved, stepping into the parapet and using Force Speed to throw himself towards the man, lightsaber flying to his hand and igniting with a blue light while his other hand pointed at the building, tore a piece of its wall and sent it flying towards the man.
He underestimated the beast's speed in the water, Leviathan exploding out of the ocean with devastating speed to fall on all fours on the street, one clawed hand crushing the fallen man against the asphalt before he could defend himself.
The beast's tail, nearly fifty feet long, lashed out, hitting another woman with enough strength to cut her in half and sending a wave of water, the substance materializing where the limb had been and keeping its momentum like a shadow that hit a third, sending him flying back.
Then Anakin's projectile hit the creature, metal and concrete exploding on impact with enough force to send it stumbling away from the remaining parahumans, tons of water falling off the beast as it moved, looking as if they were an afterimage of the Endbringer.
From his armband, Anakin heard the announcement. Carapacitor deceased. WCM deceased. Saurian down.
The creature slightly reminded him of the Zilo beast, thirty feet tall, it had green skin and a disproportionate upper body, with hunched shoulders and corded muscles on its neck, thin arms and legs that ended in massive claws.
Its face was almost smooth, lacking a mouth, nose, or ears, but it had four cracks with glowing green orbs for eyes, one on the right side and three on the left, all of them seeming to focus on Anakin for a second.
A few blasts hit the creature's body from the closest flyers, but he could see they had only done cosmetic damage, not piercing deeper than an inch or two. Slowly, it rose on two feet, leaving a shadow of water as it moved, enough liquid to match its mass.
Dropping into the road, Anakin felt the receding water parting around his Force Shield, some of it evaporating as it touched the ignited lightsaber and leaving a cloud of steam around his body.
Focusing on Leviathan for a moment, he tried to feel it with the Force, but it simply flowed around the creature, rejecting its existence almost the same way it had rejected the source of Marissa's powers.
It wasn't entirely the same. Anakin felt like the Force didn't reject it quite as completely as it did the source, but it would be incredibly difficult to directly affect the beast.
One of the gathered 'parahumans' attacked. Body camouflaged in the rain, he was barely visible as he struck Leviathan's back leg with an axe of ice, the edge digging an inch into the skin before stopping.
Leviathan snapped with one arm, the man released his axe, weapon dissolving into ice crystals as he dodged a claw strike, but Leviathan's water shadow still hit him, the liquid moving fast enough to sever one of his legs.
Anakin started to walk towards the creature, his Force presence spreading through the street, Force Telekinesis ripping apart buildings and pieces of the road, almost large enough to match the creature, prying the metal from them to gather in the air.
Second wave incoming, interference team to the third gathering point. His wristguard said, but Anakin ignored it.
Leviathan tried to lunge at him, but he lost his footing as Anakin ripped the ground from under him, tons of debris starting to float up, enough to almost completely block the rain from reaching them.
Then the larger pieces of concrete bombarded the beast, leaving only metal in the air, a growing maelstrom of metallic colors. If he couldn't affect the creature, he'd surround it, crushing it with compacted metal until it couldn't generate enough leverage to move.
Even using Force Speed, Leviathan was still blindingly fast, his extremely long tail lashing out, wrapping around the waist of a boy, then the neck of a man covered in metal and throwing them at Anakin, his front arms lashing out and sending two water shadows at him.
Anakin caught both men in his maelstrom of Force Telekinesis, using enough control to keep them safe as they were moved aside, but the older man's neck had snapped. Jotun down, Fierceling down, Adamant deceased.
He dropped his Force Shield, letting some of the rain start to fall over his clothes and instead using Force Push to smash Leviathan's water shadow, exploding it into small droplets of water before sending them back at the creature.
Leviathan finally managed to dig one of his front claws into the water, launching himself on all four towards Anakin, his limbs moving fast enough they barely broke surface tension, water falling off its body to fill the space it left behind by the tons.
Anakin used Force Telekinesis to increase his bombardment of the creature, pieces of asphalt, huge parts of houses and entire floors from nearby apartments dropping on its head, but the beast was fast enough and resistant enough to Battle Precognition that only a few could hit it, caving in a part of its head.
It didn't slow down.
The entire time, Anakin's Force Telekinesis gathered metal, compressing it into thick, dense sheaths, almost enough to fully envelop the creature.
Even then, he knew they wouldn't be enough to contain the beast, but he could keep using Force Telekinesis on them, increasing the pressure until he either crushed the beast, or melted it with heat.
In the unlikely event that he could not create enough pressure to kill the monster, he could hold it in place and ask for one of Bakuda's bombs the PRT had acquired, or even throw it into space; he just had to gather enough material to make sure it couldn't escape.
To his side, another house collapsed, ripped off the ground, most of the useless materials being dropped, but the metal separated to float around them.
The tip of Leviathan's tail made a cracking noise as it broke through the sound barrier, all fifty feet of it lashing out at Anakin from the very edge of its reach.
Eyes widening, Anakin was forced to jump back, only the constant use of Force Speed saving him as the extended limb passed a foot from his face, his Battle precognition unable to predict the beast's body.
The resulting water shadow moved almost as fast, but Anakin had already blasted it with a Force Push, water exploding only a couple of inches from his face and soaking his clothes.
He narrowed his eyes at the beast. That had been faster than in any of the videos about the creature available on their equivalent of the HoloNet. For the first time since coming to the planet, something was proving to be a challenge.
Ever since the battle started, Anakin had been pushing his Battle Precognition as much as possible. The beast may be nearly immune to it, but its water shadow and all other environmental hazards weren't, and despite the so-called truce, he could always be targeted by another 'parahuman'.
He was also constantly using his Force Speed to its maximum; it was usually unnecessary with Battle Precognition, but Leviathan was immune, and he was not arrogant enough to engage the beast without being able to follow its movements.
Then there was his Force Telekinesis, constantly closing the trap around Leviathan; it was very far from the full extent of his power, but it did require a modicum of effort to maintain.
Keeping his attention split in so many directions at the same time was not beyond him, but doing so for the entire battle was starting to take a toll, if barely.
Leviathan continued to come closer, its tail lashing out a second time. Anakin stepped aside, lightsaber flashing out in a blue arc of light and severing half a foot off the limb, Anakin noticing a brief resistance at the very middle.
Were its denser parts resistant to a lightsaber?
Then he ducked, letting the water shadow from the tail pass over his head as he blasted a second one from a claw strike, the beast only a dozen feet in front of him.
The Force screamed in his mind, the warning coming from all sides, but particularly from the ocean, making him widen his eyes.
The 'parahumans' had failed to completely stop the second wave; it was about to hit him.
Leviathan lunged, claws trying to slice him in half.
Anakin stepped forward and ducked low, his lightsaber cutting a path along the creature's arm but starting to slide off near the elbow, the material too dense to be cut.
His lightsaber could probably still melt the creature's flesh, but it was like attacking a reinforced plasteel door; it would take time.
Forced into Form III, Anakin used Soresu to dodge and retaliate at a kick, then he redirected another claw strike with his lightsaber and almost severed another 20 feet of its tail.
Anakin switched forms, turning to Form IV and piercing its chest, testing the density there before pouring as much power into his body as he could, enhancing his muscles to deliver a devastating slash at the beast's neck before it could recover, letting the Force guide his aim.
He would have tried to further enhance the blade with the Force, but he knew it was useless against this particular enemy.
Leviathan jumped back, moving at full speed, but his lightsaber still cut deeply towards the center of its chest, digging five inches into the flesh before its resistance stopped further damage.
Moving with Force Speed, the entire exchange only lasted for a couple of seconds, but it had destroyed nearly a mile of the waterfront and left even him feeling the effects of an adrenaline rush.
They separated, and Anakin jumped back as far as he could, a manhole exploding where he had just been as a thick pillar of water rose seventy feet into the air, then Alexandria hit the creature, smashing it straight down hard enough that it formed a crater, causing everything to shake around them.
Unidentified object entering airspace, Legend acting to intercept, Eidolon recovering and ready to re-engage for the third wave. Anakin could hear the warning coming from Alexandria's armband.
Extending an arm, Anakin dropped his Force Speed and Telekinesis for a moment, focusing fully on shielding himself as the Tsunami crashed on top of him, a wave more than a hundred feet tall, smashing into his shield and breaking the entire waterfront of the city, most of the street collapsing into the beach.
Intrepid down. Humble down. Brigandine deceased. Escutcheon deceas…
Anakin shook his head at the armband, the thing seemingly designed to further destroy morale, determination and despair struggling for control of every 'parahuman' he could sense in the city as the list of death or disabled grew.
The wave ended, and he dropped his Force Shield, revealing the utter devastation of the waterline, almost eighty percent of the buildings having collapsed.
He used Force Speed again, moving towards the crater.
Alexandria punched the beast once more, her fist piercing through the slash of his lightsaber and enlarging the wound, then she did it again.
Leviathan wasn't quiet, his tail was half severed, but he still had enough control to wrap it around one of her legs and smash her into the side of the crater twice as he rose into a standing position.
Stepping on her head with the claws on one digitigrade foot, he pushed her down into the crater, which had almost filled to the brim with water from his movements, all four of his eyes ignoring everything else but Anakin as he started to drown the invulnerable woman.
Another two fliers passed by the location, blasting the Endbringer's leg with some kind of green energy, but he showed no signs of feeling any pain.
Narwhal finally arrived, sending three shards of light in a straight line towards the beast while continuing to approach. Leviathan simply whipped his tail up without looking, throwing Alexandria's body at her.
The Endbringer's makeshift projectile hit two of the shards, destroying them midair, but he was forced to dodge the third.
Alexandria's armband activated again, but Anakin didn't have time to listen to it, focusing on the beast and waving a hand, the metal he had prepared rose into the air all around him.
Legend down.
Leviathan turned and tried to run, but another flier hit his head with enough strength to delay him, the man almost getting decapitated by a claw for his assistance.
With another effort of will, Anakin sent every piece of metal he had gathered at the Endbringer, at least thirty tons of material encircling it from all sides.
Leviathan struggled, water flying from all around him as he tried to create space to move.
Anakin closed his hand, squeezing the metal around the beast with such strength that it groaned, each piece molding to the other and slowly collapsing into a ball shape, water leaking from minuscule openings.
Deactivating his lightsaber, he clasped it to his waist and lifted both hands towards the almost perfect ball of metal, his Force Telekinesis squeezing so hard it had grown red with heat.
The Force screamed at him, a warning so loud he almost lost control, something insidious trying to worm its way into his mind and being violently repelled. Anakin looked up, seeing almost a hundred balls of fire falling through the air, almost like drop pods.
Far closer to the ground, however, was a large piece of artificial satellite, more than a ton of metal thrown at near terminal velocity towards… his apprentice's shelter.
From the entire city, the feeling of terror and despair exploded, quickly overwhelming what little hope or determination there had been before, the Force crying out as thousands of people mentally collapsed.
Less than a mile behind the satellite, among the heavy rain and hail, a new Endbringer descended into the city.
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AAAustinYu
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Wow Leviathan really had a skill issue
random_reader23
Experienced.
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2024
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Thanks for the chapter
ThunderBasilisk
Well Worn Bastion
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Sounds like Anakins gonna need to pull a Starkiller and rip a fucker out of the sky.
Luker number 5
Versed in the lewd.
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- Jul 11, 2014
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Well it's a good thing Ani has this nice big metal sphere to throw at the satellite.
Cosmic Dream
dreaming of utopia
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Did the Force reject the Entities or the other way around? Mmh.
Vallander
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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It recognized if the entities were able to interact with it it would be used as food for them to grow and further threaten everything
Swordstire
Not too sore, are you?
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Or it's the Entities abilities to hide. The Endbringer's are supposed to be blindspots to Thinkers. Anakin compared how his precognition is affected to the time he tried to analyze the source of Sundancer's power. So the shards probably have a layer of Thinker protection. Or just Shardspace in general.
Death_X_Master
LvL ???
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- Nov 4, 2019
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My dude needs to make with the force lightning. That stuff has a tendency to ignore durability and cause lasting pain/wounds that extends beyond the flesh.
