The Everliving

  Immortalis looked aside for a moment in genuine shock before turning back to stare at the intruder in disbelief. Did he REALLY mock me just now?! Does he have brain damage?? Immortalis thought incredulously. He chuckled drily and sarcastically after a couple of seconds, looking up at Alexander with absolute fury. “You could’ve just said you have a death wish instead of rambling on so much,” the hero spat out venomously, flexing his fingers and curling his hand into a tight fist, his face scrunched up into a scowl, “But don’t worry, I’ll grant it to you anyway.” Number Seven then suddenly broke into a sprint, using the debris scattered across the floor as a platform to jump into the air and lunge straight at the intruder with a raised fist, his crimson red irises illuminating the dust-filled air. Alexander’s eyes narrowed at the descending Immortalis, sidestepping such that the hero’s fist only connected with Alexander’s shoulder with a dry thump before the electromancer reared back an electrified fist of his own, smashing it against Immortalis’ stomach and causing electricity to reverberate throughout his enemy’s body. Seven gasped, spit flying out of his mouth as his eyes bulged before falling to the floor on his knees, gripping his stomach and screaming in pain. Alexander didn’t waste a moment, jumping past Immortalis’ fallen body and deeper into the mansion, only giving himself a brisk shoulder rub and making a ‘tsk’ as any indication that he had been hurt, "I'd like to see you try~!" he called out to Number Seven of the Celestial Ten as soon as he reached the couch where the hero had spent most of the night, standing on top of it and sticking out his tongue in an infantile mockery while stricking a corny pose. I can’t let him see me. I thought, dragging along a stunned Love Love and ducking behind the spiraling stairs in the far left corner of the room, barely avoiding being seen by the rebel.

  I grit my teeth while hiding behind the stairs, a hand on my forehead as I groaned softly, closing my eyes while considering the situation. Jessica had a hand over her mouth to stop herself from screaming, cold sweat running down her face while she peeked over my shoulder and at the convulsing Immortalis before turning to look at Alexander as a lightning bolt slowly formed inside his closed fist, the cracking of energy engulfing the room. “W-What is happening?? Am I going to die?!” she asked me quietly, a tear forming on the edge of her left eye before turning to look up at me in fear. Did Rachel seriously disregard the plan we had?! Or is Alexander going rogue?! This has… This has never happened before~ I grinned widely in genuine unfaked excitement, making Love Love recoil in terrified shock momentarily, a tiny spark of light appearing in my eyes as I opened them. I suddenly turned towards the woman next to me and gripped her shoulders tightly, making her do a small "Gah?!" sound while I peeked over her so as to get a good look at the battle right as Immortalis stood back up, wiping drool off his face, his eyes narrowed.

  “What the hell was that?! Just trying to piss me off even more?!” he scowled at Alexander, slowly walking towards where the rebel was desecrating his property, "Is this all for some sick laughs before your death or what?!" The electromancer didn’t answer, instead gleefully firing the lightning bolt in his hand like it was a spear directly at the approaching Celestial. The bolt flew by so fast that the hero had no time to react before it impacted his right forearm in a flash of yellow electrical sparks, instantly cooking his entire arm medium rare all the way to the shoulder. Immortalis let out a gasp as all air was knocked out of his lungs from the sheer pain, immediately falling to his knees and gripping his struck arm with a torturous yowl while struggling to breathe. It was as if every single nerve and neuron in his arm was simultaneously forced to explode violently, the very act of screaming quickly becoming incredibly agonizing as his vocal cords vibrated wildly, making his voice come out garbled and almost mechanical-like. I turned back to Love Love after witnessing that, a wide and creepy smile on my face, all while she was instead sweating profusely and looking like she was about to vomit and pass out. “Hey. Jessica,” I demanded her attention sternly right as Alexander jumped backwards and even deeper into the mansion as soon as John began to stir again, looking down at his now back-to-normal arm and flexing his fingers, his breathing still erratic and uneven. Meanwhile, the oh-so-useful girl I was holding looked up at me meekly and nodded slowly, showing that she was listening.

  “There’s a reason I picked YOU out of everyone. You were curious about that, right?? You wanna know why you’re special, right???” I asked her rhetorically, staring into her eyes to show her how serious I was while shaking her by the shoulders aggressively as if to wake her up, “You don’t know it yet, but I do! This is going to be a bit out of nowhere, but all you have to do is follow my instructions, alright?? If you do, I promise you’ll not only survive this, but you’re going to be living that life of luxury I promised!!! Okay?! Do you get it?!” I demanded to know, letting go of her after poking her clavicle, my eyes shaking wildly all while as she couldn’t help but be taken aback in surprise and confusion, her lower lip trembling slightly. Come on, Jessica… She internalised, her fight or flight instincts finally beginning to slowly die down now that she wasn't in immediate mortal danger. Wake up!! Get a hold of yourself, or else you’re going to DIE dammit!!! She slowly forced herself to take a deep breath, closing her eyes and nodding quickly after only hesitating for a few moments. She still looked like she was going to vomit, but her expression told me that she was truly setting herself up to the task, her ability to steel herself even in the most unorthodox of situations being one of those characteristic she retained no matter the timeline. Must be something in her genes, I guess.

  Seven once more slowly approached Alexander, taking it a lot more cautiously this time while paying attention to the rebel’s every move with narrowed eyes. Fool me once, shame on you. He thought disgruntedly, another bolt of lightning flew towards the Celestial shortly thereafter followed by a cackle from the rebel, except this time he quickly dodged to the side and behind a pillar just in time for the lightning to fly right past him and impact the floor where he had been standing on not a second ago, this time merely scratching his leg instead of delivering a direct collision. Immortalis gasped from the excrutiating pain nonetheless, half of his calf steaming like cooked meat. FUCK!! F-Fool me twice, shame on me... He bit his thumb so hard it it began to bleed in order to stop himself from keeling over, his bloodshot eyes twitching. This BASTARD!! Alexander, was he?! What the hell is his problem, huh?! He's not killing me!! He's just causing me the most pain possible without outright ending my life!!! But why?! What does he gain from that other than pissing me off even more?! He pondered to himself, letting go of his thumb once the five seconds had passed, peeking behind the pillar only to see another lightning bolt zoom right next to his eye, making him quickly retreat back behind the safety of the marble construct.

  This asshole is trying to keep me at bay… He looked around at the debris until he noticed a round, flat piece of wood, probably from a table. Yes, this will do nicely. He thought before jumping out from under the cover, a lightning bolt missing him by a few centimeters, rolling on the ground before he finally grabbed the circular maekshift shield and angled it towards his attacker, expecting another strike. Humiliating. This is so humiliating!!! He stood up with a growl, still gripping the wooden circle right as another bolt of lightning flew towards him, the hero quickly intercepting it with his newfound tool. His defence wasn't perfect, however, since the electricity was quickly channeled through the wood and into his body, causing his arms to cramp incredibly painfully, although the burning sensation was not nearly as bad as if they had been directly cooked by the bolt like the last times. John forced himself to grin through the pain, even as he bit his lower lip so hard it bled in order to suppress a scream. This… is… NOTHING!!! The hero roared internally, his fists clenching. He immediately began to run towards his adversary at top speed, knowing that preparing bolts of electricity took Alexander at least a few seconds, which he could use to close the distance. The rebel laughed mockingly at the rapidly approaching Celestial, giddily stamping one of his feet, “Oh wow!! You’re capable of learning?? Awesome!!” he exclaimed excitedly while raising his arms into a fighting position, closing his hands into fists. It seems that my lightning bolts alone won’t be enough to keep John down for good after all. Ahh, I should be mad about that, but I just can't!! This is excellent~ Fight me with all you have, ‘HERO!!’ The rebel grinned as he took a step forward and jumped towards the Celestial with a burst of electricity sparking around him like an explosion, moving far faster than a normal human should be able to, going for the direct approach. Immortalis retorted with a laugh of his own, albeit strained and forced, “Finally gonna fight like a man and not like a BITCH?! GOOD!!"

  “Love Love. Do you see that broken vase over there?” I asked her hurriedly, almost in a panic, pointing her attention to one of the many valuables that had been destroyed in Alexanders’ grand entrance, the precious ornament now laying in shattered pieces a couple of meters from us. Jessica nodded twice, her eyes fully narrowed in determination and concentration. I continued, “I want you to think about everything you’ve ever loved and everything you care about, okay? I want you to REALLY focus on your dreams and aspirations. The things you want to cherish and protect,” I whispered to her, watching her close her eyes, following my orders without question, deciding she had no choice but to place her trust in me. Something interesting that I had figured out over many attempts of trial and error was that awakening Jessica’s powers for the first time wasn’t really all that difficult, in fact it was quite easy. The reason she hadn’t unlocked them by now was simply that in this timeline she had never had a dire need to use them; there was never something she cherished that was broken and needed fixing, nor anything she despised that deserved to be destroyed. It was rather cruel; she was too kind to awaken her powers, even despite this timeline treating her far more miserably than if I had never intervened.

  Love Love’s skin suddenly began to glow in a light, almost imperceptible pink; energy slowly beginning to swirl around her like the fumes from a smoke machine. The output was terribly weak, however, but that was to be expected from someone who only just awakened. I continued, placing my hands on her shoulder lightly and reassuringly, “Now, Jessica. I want you to open your eyes while still concentrating on everything you want to preserve. While you do that, focus on the vase. Imagine that all those things you’re thinking about, all those things you cherish, ARE that vase - that they are all broken just like it. You have to FIX them. Do you understand?” Love Love opened her eyes slowly, pink energy emanating from her irises while sweat ran down her face, the vase pieces slowly floating in the air while glowing faintly and beginning to flow and weave together until a few seconds later the repaired vase clinked on the ground harmlessly and the pink energy around Love Love vanished, leaving her panting and gasping for air on her knees. I smirked, biting down on my thumb in excitement. I might be able to turn this situation to my favor yet… More than it already is, I mean!! Oh this is GREAT!!

  Immortalis watched as Alexander flew towards him, putting up the shield towards the rebel while rearing back a leg in anticipation. Alexander noticed the imminent kick and tucked in his legs to avoid it, instead landing on the shield and using it as a platform to launch himself into the air. Immortalis quickly set his foot back down, revealing the feint as a closed fist emerged from behind the shield, smashing into Alexander’s left cheek right as he jumped off the wooden circle. John winced in pain, being sent skidding backwards thanks to the force with which Alexander jumped off the shield as well as an intense burning feeling from where his fist had collided with Alexander’s face. His entire body is coated in electricity. He’s trying to go for the cactus strategy?? Against me of all people?! His eyes narrowed as he stopped himself from being pushed back any further by planting his feet on the ground, nearly falling over. Meanwhile, the rebel had just finished landing on the floor from his jump. Alexander spat out a bit of blood, touching his swelling face with a tsking noise before turning his head to look at the hero with murderous yet still playful eyes. And then, right before John’s eyes, he vanished in a streak of yellow lightning. The hero’s eyes widened, looking around wildly for any sign of the rebel, eventually catching a glimpse of the trailing bolt of electricity that was darting between the various toppled furniture, circling Immortalis like a shark. What is he even trying to accomplish?! I’ll recover from all of his hits in five seconds flat, so why is he even bothering?! Number Seven followed Alexander’s movements, turning the shield towards his enemy while rotating quickly in order to keep up.

  Either way, this changes things. I’M the cat in this cat and mouse chase now!! All that’s left is figuring out how to approach that bastard. The Celestial thought smugly. His eyes darted back and forth, keeping track of the electricity emanating from Alexander’s body like a trail of yellow string through the dusty and smoke-filled air. “GET BACK HERE, COWARD!!!” Immortalis called out to the rebel as he spotted a yellow streak scurry between two pillars, quickly turning his shield in that direction. But then, while staring intently at the place he had last seen him, Immortalis suddenly felt the air be forced out of his lungs as an insanely sharp pang of pain erupted from his spine and spread through his whole body while he was suddenly flung forwards - quickly turning his head to look behind himself in shock and spotting Alexander pulling back a fist while grinning psychotically. FROM BEHIND?! HOW?! That streak- it must have been a lightning bolt to distract me!! Immortalis realized as his eyes rolled to the back of his head while he gasped sharply and fell to the floor with a heavy thud, passing out from the sheer pain nearly instantly - a sizzling sound loud enough to be heard throughout the mansion coming off him as his entire body crackled and steamed from the immense amount of electricity that had just been poured into it. Alexander chuckled and cracked his knuckles, sparks continuing to fly around him like an aura. “I’m right here, you worthless lackey,” the terrorist retorted calmly.

  The rebel then proceeded to sit on top of the passed out body of the hero while panting, taking a short five second breather all the while retaining his smug smirk. This is more tiring than I had expected. Alexander thought to himself, counting down from five in his head while quickly checking his watch. I can see why he’s so dangerous, the bastard just won’t stay down. Good thing the clock’s ticking, so I’m not stuck here forever. He stood up after the five seconds were up, only to suddenly be stopped dead in his tracks by Immortalis grabbing onto his ankle and making him fall over right as he was about to jump away. The hero was fuming, his crimson eyes both bloodshot and also glowing so intensely they lit up the air around his face with a menacing glow. He grit his teeth in anger, not caring that his hand was being actively cooked alive by the act of grabbing onto the rebel and tugged on him while standing up, growling. “You’re one ANNOYING little shit, you know that?!” Immortalis growled in sheer rage, raising a leg towards Alexander's face as the confused and startled rebel quickly tried to gather electricity around him into a bolt, aiming for the hero’s arm. John had become conscious and active the very instant the cooldown ended, giving him a tiny window of opportunity during the milliseconds of discrepancy that humans have when counting down inside their heads. The hero brought down his leg and smashed his foot on the rebel’s face repeatedly over and over again as hard as he could, the arm he was using to hold Alexander beginning to cramp violently from the pain. “DIE!! DIE!!” Seven yowled in hatred, the ground under Alexander's head beginning to crack from the continuous slams.

  Alexander grit his teeth while the world around him began to spin, his face once more being stomped on, blood trickling down from his broken nose. He closed his fists and slammed them against the marble tiles of the floor, an outburst of pure electricity enveloping him and throwing Immortalis backwards so hard he slammed against the wall and broke his back, screaming out in pain as he lay on the floor. DAMMIT!!! Just a bit more and I could have continued pummeling him!! The hero thought in anger while feeling his body boiling from the inside from the electricity as well as the unbearable pain emanating from his broken spine. This excruciating pain didn’t last even a second though; five in total having passed since he first regained consciousness and grabbed onto Alexander’s electrified body, allowing him to get to his feet nearly instantly after impact with the wall. Alexander, meanwhile, slowly stood up himself while wiping the blood from his face with his sleeve, groaning softly. He took a deep breath and turned to look at the hero, who was already on his feet albeit wobbling slightly from side to side. The rebel smirked and raised his hands, ignoring the pain searing throughout his body as he prepared two more bolts of lightning. Rachel lied to me. Alexander thought with narrowed glowing eyes, a drop of blood flowing down his swollen cheeks. Good!! I was really hoping John wouldn’t be a total pushover!! “Haha!! It will take more than that to keep me down, hero!!” he taunted Immortalis, signalling him to come closer with one of his hands mockingly, “But it was a good try~”

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  I watched on with shock, tiny sparks of energy reflecting off my eyes while still hiding away behind the stairs. What is Alexander’s goal here?? He can’t defeat Immortalis, no one can. He’ll eventually run out of energy or get whittled down by Seven’ attacks. Not that his motives matter too much right now, this is still fantastic for me!! John finished getting up, leaning against the wall for a moment. He took a deep breath, shaking his head while grabbing onto his shirt, sweat running down his face profusely. The passive activation of his ability also erased any physical tiredness, so he hadn’t sweated in a very long time. He wiped his brow and looked at the liquid, astounded and confused. Why? I’m not tired. I can’t get tired!! Then… this must be cold sweat?? Immortalis came to the realization right as he saw a bolt of yellow energy fly in his direction, his eyes widening in fear as he dodged out of the way with a roll, picking up his makeshift charred shield off the ground and ducking behind a pillar. I’m scared. I’m… I’m actually scared?! John realized, looking down at his hands as they trembled ever so slightly, his eyes wide while his breath became more and more erratic. Alexander jumped up above Immortalis, his entire body crackling potently like a lightning bolt while his leg was extended in a dropkick. The hero grit his teeth, taking the opportunity to punch upwards with his right fist at the incoming rebel. His fist and Alexander’s calf made contact, causing a flurry of sparks to erupt from the point of impact in a flash of light. The rebel’s other leg landed on the floor shortly after, allowing him to jump backwards quickly in order to look down at his injured leg with a wince. Meanwhile, Immortalis’ entire arm was once more turned into a bright reddish brown, cooked alive. He screamed in agony again, dropping to his knees and gripping his arm while sweat continued to run down his body and even tears began to form in his eyes. It hurts!! It hurts so much!! That must be it!! Alexander kicked the air, groaning in pain at the purple spot in his calf where Immortalis had punched. He looked over at the coiled up Celestial vigilantly, even with one eye half closed from the swelling. He didn’t jump in and take advantage of the debilitated state of the hero, but instead merely watched on until the five seconds passed. Immortalis slowly got back to his feet laboriously, groaning in frustration while holding his face with one hand.

  “Love Love!” I called out to the young woman, making her look up at me from where she had been on her knees, inspecting the repaired vase, but it seemed like she hadn’t heard me. “I-I have POWERS?! Since when?? Why did I never manifest them before?! I’m not crippled?!?! Oh god, I’m going to pass out,” she began to stutter out in pure giddy happiness, question after question flooding out of her mouth as she looked up at me with wide and joyful eyes, tears forming at the edges of her eyes. Any fear or despair she had been feeling about this entire situation had vanished from her entirely by now, consumed by the emotion of this new revelation. I pursed my lips and grabbed her shoulders lightly even as she continued to ask questions. “Hey!! Jessica!!” I growled at her, scowling, “I’ll answer all of those later, okay?? There’s something really important I need you to do, got it? Do that and the life of-” Love Love laughed psychotically, interrupting me while letting my shaking swing her head from side to side without a worry in the world, “The life of luxury, I know, I know!! Does that even MATTER ANYMORE?! I HAVE POWERS!!!” she continued, seemingly delirious. I grit my teeth in annoyance, about to snap at her, but then I watched in astonishment as Jessica’s expression changed in an instant, her mouth twisting into a taught yet oddly serious smirk and her eyes focusing in on me scaldingly while narrowing, “I’ll do it. Whatever it is you’re about to ask of me, I’ll do it.”

  I let go of her and sighed, putting a hand to my forehead before peeking out of the column to give the ongoing fight a once-over. Immortalis and Alexander were chasing each other in a cat and mouse chase, except it wasn’t clear who the cat nor the mouse was, trying to land blows on the other without getting hit themselves. Sometimes Immortalis would land a blow on Alexander, and sometimes Alexander would manage to hit Immortalis. More often than not, though, every time one of them went for a hit the other retaliated with a blow of their own, making sparks of yellow electricity flood the room every now and again, making for a rather impressive spectacle. I looked back to Love Love, nodding at her, trying to brush aside her strange attitude. “Alright, then. Do you remember what you did to that vase?? When I give you the signal, I want you to do it to Immortalis,” I told her bluntly with a half-smirk, making her smug expression decay almost immediately as she gave me a doubtful look. “O-Oh!! Well - that seems a bit more complicated than a vase…” she muttered slowly, unsure of herself despite the bravado she had shown about five seconds ago, her gaze drooping for a moment. But then she pursed her lips and nodded in determination, “Okay!! I won’t let you down, Kronos, promise!!!” she exclaimed, clenching her fists while trying to hype herself up while giving me a sincere grin. I nodded and patted her back, once more mentally brushing aside her weirdness and standing up slowly, finally making my presence known to the two combatants.

  I immediately drew the gaze of both of them even as they landed a blow on each other’s faces simultaneously, leaving a stinging red bruise on Alexander’s cheek while Immortalis was sent flying backwards with an arc of electricity emanating from him and slammed into a wall with a crunch - finally getting properly killed for the first time in the fight - much to Alexander’s clear distaste. The rebel turned to me, noticing the third person interrupting their duel, his eyes quickly widening in fear when he recognised me, taking a step backwards and looking around panickedly. “Hey hey hey!! That’s not fair!! I wasn’t told YOU’D be here!!!” he exclaimed in surprise, the electricity around him only intensifying as he eyed the hole in the wall from where he had entered, as if planning his exit strategy, “That’s cheating!!” he added after a few seconds, putting a palm up towards me. I took a step forward, grinning broadly with my hands in my pockets, prompting him to mutter something unintelligible and panickedly throw a bolt of electricity at me, almost killing me instantly. To keep it short, my power - Fourth Dimension - has a passive and an active component as well; the active being my ability to travel through time at will, while the passive makes it so that I automatically travel back in time 3 seconds the picosecond my body receives fatal damage. Wow, that triggered my passive ability immediately. I thought in mild surprise while I took the same step forward once more towards Alexander, this time doing a small jump to my left just in time to avoid the bolt of energy. Those things are no joke when thrown with the intent to kill.

  The rebel grit his teeth, rushing towards me with a thunderous thrust of his legs and landing a right hook to my ribs before I could even process what was happening, a beyond lethal amount of electricity being poured into my body. On my third try I dodged his bolt once more, and this time when he charged at me I jumped up, letting him fly past me and slam into the wall before I landed back down, my hands still in my pockets. Alexander grit his teeth and spat out a bit of blood, kicking himself off the wall in order to turn around in an instant, already aiming a second bolt at me. I can’t defeat Alexander as things stand right now. I’m not nearly prepared enough. I thought with pursed lips, realizing that the rebel had switched to prioritizing me over Immortalis. My body is still merely human. Even if I perfectly dodge every single one of his attacks, I’ll eventually get tired and my body will simply be incapable of dodging even if I know exactly when and where to dodge. Landing a counter-attack is also impossible, since even a single punch against him would cook my arm raw. I’d need to pre-plan this fight in advance. But before Alexander could fire the bolt, a yowl rang out through the mansion, turning both of our attentions to a fast approaching Seven, his ‘shield’ nowhere to be seen. “DON’T YOU DARE, KEVIN!!!” he roared at me, his crimson red eyes glowing menacingly as he charged through the dust clouds encompassing his mansion, “THIS BASTARD ALREADY HUMILIATED ME ENOUGH!! THIS IS MY FIGHT!!” Good thing I don’t have to do any of those things. I thought in amusement.

  I shrugged exaggeratedly, making Alexander turn to me and take notice as I took various steps back and sat down on a destroyed column, a leg resting on top of the other one. “Sure, John. Go right ahead. But if he manages to escape, I’m not doing anything about it, got it?” I said with indifference. I was trying to be as obvious as possible; I couldn’t make it clearer to either of them that I was not going to participate in the fight any further, reducing myself to a spectator. I did side-eye Love Love as she remained hidden behind the stairs, looking at me with a tilted head. This was my plan; not to help Immortalis defeat Alexander myself, but instead to ignite John’s ego. He had already been shot in the metaphorical heart when a party organized by him ended up like this, and now knowing that I had been watching Alexander make a fool out of him this whole time was about enough to make the young hero explode in shame. That’s probably also why he threw the table top away. He doesn’t want to look like he’s relying on something else. He was now recklessly charging at Alexander, who pursed his lips and after a few seconds of consideration decided to turn to his original target and ignore me. What the hell is Kronos doing here?! The rebel thought in a bit of a panic, his teeth gritting. At least it seems that One is uninterested… I have no choice but to trust his word and carry on with the plan as if he wasn’t here.

  Immortalis was rushing forward without caring for his wellbeing at all, his eyes glowing potently and his teeth grit tightly, sweat running down his face as he forced himself to ignore his fear of pain. Alexander prepared a bolt of electricity, firing it at the charging hero who lifted his right arm to block it, allowing it to get completely cooked and merely pausing a split second to wince in pain before continuing forward with a determined roar. Alexander’s own bright green eyes widened slightly in fear and surprise, before quickly narrowing them back down in concentration and rushing towards Immortalis to meet him head on with a punch of his own. Their fists connected with each other, crackling electricity creating a flash of light between them; Alexander’s knuckles beginning to bleed profusely as a result of the clash, while Immortalis instead had his arm cooked to a crisp all the way to the elbow. John screamed in pain due to his now both useless arms, his pupils vibrating wildly inside of his eyes while Alexander reared back his other hand to prepare to send him flying back with a blow to the stomach. I turned to Love Love and gave her a nod, “Love Love, now!!” I urged her with a whisper. Jessica gave me a nod in return, scrambling to her feet and outstretching her arms towards Immortalis as suddenly a stream of pink energy began to flow from her towards the hero, like a flow of barely visible colored mist.

  Alexander hesitated for a couple of milliseconds, raising an eyebrow with a soft “Huh??” in response to the pink energy suddenly emanating from his opponent. These precious milliseconds gave Immortalis just enough time to get his bearings and counter the e?ectromancer’s blow with a kick, causing yet another collision; this time between fist and shin. Once more, Alexander’s punch was stopped with a painful crunching sound, his joints being dislocated and some even breaking on the spot while Immortalis’ leg was burnt by a surge of electricity. John howled in pain, nearly falling down to the ground now that three of his extremities were rendered mute while Alexander recoiled his broken hand in pain, gripping it tightly while shooting the Celestial a murderous look. But then suddenly Immortalis set both of his feet down after only three seconds from the first impact, his leg and arms fully healed as pink energy rose around him. Immortalis didn’t waste the opportunity, ignoring the pain by the sheer power of being blinded by shame and the desire to kill his enemy, rearing back both of his fists and slamming them into a confused Alexander’s unprepared chest. The rebel skidded backwards for a couple of meters, gasping as the air was forced out of his lungs with a fit of dry coughs, looking down at where he had been impacted, sweat running down his face. He was slowly tiring and the many injuries were beginning to accumulate. “I wasn’t expecting such tenacity out of you, Immortalis!! This has been even more educational than I ever anticipated!!” Alexander exclaimed with a wide grin despite the pain, his eyes glowing even more intensely out of excitement mixed with surprise as he quickly got into boxing position despite his condition.

  Immortalis retracted his arms, marveling at them for a second because of just how quickly his body was “resetting” before hastily turning to Alexander with a murderous glare and getting into a fighting position himself. I’ll think about this weird feeling later. He normally would have said something or unleashed some vicious mockery to counter his opponent’s words, but he was keenly aware of my eyes watching the battle and thus decided to try and carry himself with dignity. The hero reared back his fists and lunged at the terrorist, unleashing a flurry of blows as soon as he was within range. Alexander grinned broadly and responded in kind, meeting Immortalis’ barrage with one of his own, landing blow after blow on each other without any seeming end. Neither was dodging the punches or kicks of the other, duking it out while just tanking the hits recklessly. I could easily just jump out of his reach and blast him with bolts in order to buy even more time. Alexander thought to himself in between the sharp pains of getting wounded over and over, electricity still flowing all around him with sizzles and pops. But what’s the honor in that?! I will NEVER turn down a proper man on man fistfight!! The rebel grinned, knowing time was nearly up anyway as they continued to exchange punch after punch, kick after kick, blow for blow. Immortalis’ technique was absolutely awful, and it was clear he had practically no training in fighting at all, something the rebel took mental note of. The hero had always relied on defeating opponents by simply outlasting them, after all, and had never really acquired a need to train.

  Just as it was slowly becoming clear that Alexander was beginning to lose the advantage - his entire body battered and bruised while Immortalis remained as good as new - the wristwatch on Alexander's left hand beeped and he suddenly jumped backwards and out of Immortalis’ reach. The hero immediately began to pursue the rebel while snickering maliciously, “HAAA?! Finally realized you can’t beat me?! I’m not done making you pay, you bastard!!” Alexander chuckled despite his broken lips and swollen cheeks, looking at Immortalis before jumping up and landing behind the hero, “I’d love to keep having a man to man, heart to heart conversation with you, John, but sadly time’s up,” he expressed in a truly saddened tone. Immortalis turned around to attack Alexander only to suddenly be kicked with immense force and sent flying backwards into a wall, killing him with a deafening cracking sound. Alexander turned to me nervously, only to see me shrug and give him an uninterested nod. He blinked a few times and smirked, giving me a short and amused salute before turning around and using his electricity to propel himself as he ran out through the hole he had made in the wall and out of the mansion. I watched him leave with a raised eyebrow, still confused as to what the hell he did all that for. I stood up and placed a hand on Love Love’s head, as a sign to tell her that she could stop now. Her pupils dilated as she finally let go of her power, immediately falling to her knees as the pink light around her vanished and she subsequently violently vomited all over the floor before collapsing on her side and passing out completely. She lasted way longer than I expected. An impressive showing, especially considering this is her very first time using her power. I at least had the decency to give her body a light kick to push her to the side before she got stained by the vomit on the floor, moving her away from the puddle.

  I sighed and left her there, approaching the John-shaped hole in the wall where the hero was slowly emerging from, groaning as he looked around for the enemy that had already left. “You ok?” I asked him, already knowing the answer. “Where is he?! Where is that sonovabitch?! Don’t tell me he ran like a coward?!” he demanded to know, ignoring my question. I gave him a brisk nod, causing him to let out a dissatisfied grunt, finally leaving the hole and kicking some debris despite it making him stub his toe and grit his teeth in pain. “Fucking coward!! What was he even doing?? His watch beeps and he just bails?! It’s like he had a… timer…” Immortalis’ eyes widened at the same time as mine, except for completely different reasons. I was excited at the revelation while Immortalis was pale in despair. He opened his mouth ever so slightly and the next words came out as a hushed whisper, “Oh. He was buying time.”