NOVEL NEXT Chapter 48: Rapture
Ben kept his arms crossed in front of his face, waiting for the smoke to clear. His upper limbs were made of a greenish crystal of great density and resistance, excellent for protection against projectile impacts and shrapnel from explosions. As the smoke cleared, he saw his opponent again. Not his, because it would be too greedy to say that the huge, crazed vaxasaurian was only his opponent, as at that moment, at least six individuals were attacking him and another ten or so were waiting for the best opportunity to attack him again.
The teenager was panting for breath. His arms and legs felt heavier and the pain from the fight was starting to build up to the point where it wasn't just a nuisance. How long was this going to last?
Acid Breath, one of the members of the Circus freak trio, vomited a foul-smelling green liquid at the base of a pine tree. The trunk immediately began to corrode, thinning in diameter. Thumbskull grabbed the steam and pulled it sideways, breaking it in the area corroded by his colleague's acid. He turned his body, rotating the tree towards Albedo's head, hitting him right in the face, but instead of making him fall backwards, the vaxasaurian stood upright, his teeth embedded in the surface of the stem.
Albedo turned his head, also moving the trunk stuck in his mouth. Thumbskull, who had not yet let go of the tree, was thrown along with it. As soon as he turned his neck as far as he could, Albedo unclenched his teeth, throwing the tree towards Darkstar, Frightwig and Vulkanus. In a joint movement, the three of them hit the trunk in mid-air, shattering it into countless pieces.
Under Sir Alfred's command, a line of soldiers from the Forever Knights launched a barrage of shots from their laser weapons at Albedo. The creature roared and punched the ground violently, spreading a kinetic wave across the soil and causing the knights to collapse to the ground.
When least expected, Azmuth's voice rang out across the sky from Grandpa Max's spaceship:
"Ultimatrix, new voice command!"
Many of the people on the ground looked up in search of the source of the sound. Albedo didn't, as he was in a predatory animal state, not rational enough to reflect on the scientist's words. However, the distraction caused by the sound was an opportunity he had been waiting for, and when he saw his prey looking away from him, he fired one shot after another with little chance of them being deflected.
Octagon, Zombozo and Darkstar were hit hard, being thrown and falling unconscious. Rojo and Sir Alfred partially dodged, but were still hit by the wave of explosions. Frightwig and Argit managed to hide behind a tree and protect themselves. The giant mutant rat was hit by two shots and stopped moving.
"Command D1SCH-4RG3..." Azmuth continued.
Two projectiles hit a violet sphere in the center of the destroyed area, but not even a crack could be seen on its surface. In a flash, the sphere broke apart and Gwen, Kevin and Ben set off towards the villain. Albedo fired a new batch of projectiles that cut through the air with a high-pitched sound.
"A command creation and manipulation exclusive to its creator, Azmuth..."
With a spell, Gwen lifted debris from the environment, keeping it suspended in the air. Kevin and Ben jumped between the pieces of rock and floating trees. The Osmosian, coated in an orange sandy ore, jumped towards the projectiles and let them hit him. The missiles hit his skin but didn't explode, they remained stuck like a car stuck in sand. Ben, on the other hand, deformed his jaw, opening his mouth to a much larger diameter than a human and launched three of the Upchuck's green tongues towards the projectiles. One by one, he swallowed the tennis ball-sized missiles, causing his abdomen to take on a greenish glow.
"Releasing charges into the external environment at the speed of 98 Zhels..."
Circles of mana surrounded Gwen's hands and, with sweeping movements of her arms, the wreckage that Ben and Kevin had used as a platform began to be hurled at Albedo. The projectiles sunk into Kevin's skin began to slide down his sandy body, gathering in his right hand, which grew into a huge ball dotted with missiles. Ben swallowed the last two projectiles in the air, stepped on a rock floating to his left and propelled himself towards the vaxasaurian's head. In a coordinated movement, debris hit Albedo's arms and legs. Kevin punched the alien's torso, causing the missiles in his sandball to detonate. Ben finally regurgitated a bright green, spherical mass into the creature's face, which exploded violently.
Albedo began to fall backwards, his eyes losing their shine and from his blood-stained mouth came only an unintelligible grunt.
"Command completion only with complete emptying..."
That last attack was able to cause significant damage to the alien, but to the heroes' misfortune, it was also important enough to snap Albedo out of his state of irrationality. Upon hearing Azmuth's last words, the alien slammed its tail into the ground and not only stopped its fall, but propelled its body back onto its feet. As it rose, it pointed both arms towards the sky and fired as many missiles per second as it could. One of them had to hit Azmuth's damned ship.
Gwen and Ben began firing at the projectiles, trying to shoot them down before they hit their target. Gwen launched mana disks and Ben lasers from his eyes.
"Initiate Ultimatrix discharge..."
A metal chain looped twice around Albedo's left arm and, with a sharp jerk, pulled him sideways and downwards. Rojo, with its armor of alien technology, held the chain. Six orange beams, with metal balls at their ends, wrapped around the vaxasaurian's right arm and, just like the other limb, he was pulled downwards. The orange bundles consisted of Frightwig's hair, which was supported by Thumbskull to pull him up.
Albedo began to contract his muscles when Kevin suddenly appeared in front of his face, his right arm transformed into a huge glass blade and his legs coated in a blue rubbery material. In one swift movement, the teenager struck a blow to the base of the alien's neck.
"Now," Azmuth concluded.
A greenish bolt of lightning erupted from the Ultimatrix symbol and struck Kevin before he could complete the attack. The youth was thrown a few meters away and fell writhing in pain.
The sudden burst of energy startled Ben and Gwen, allowing two of Albedo's missiles to escape and hit Grandpa Max's spaceship.
"Grandpa!" shouted Ben and Gwen in despair at the sight of the ship turning into a fireball in mid-air.
Albedo roared angrily and crossed his arms, throwing Rojo and Frightwig to opposite sides of the forest. He stared at the symbol on his chest, which flashed and emitted short greenish rays uninterruptedly.
"Azmuth, you bastard!"
The plumber's ship began to fall in a funereal spiral until it hit the trees a few meters away.
"No!" Gwen put both hands to her mouth and the first tears began to appear in her eyes.
"No, no, no..." Ben ran off into the forest in the direction of the crash site. He felt an enormous tightness in his chest. He wouldn't believe Grandpa Max was dead unless he saw it with his own eyes.
Ben started to approach the crash site but couldn't find the spaceship. An enormous violet mist, reaching as high as the treetops, was advancing towards him. He stopped running and took up a defensive position. The mist covered him and it continued advancing through the forest.
Albedo spun the disk on his chest, thinking of some combination that would allow him to interrupt the discharge process. His attention was diverted by the arrival of a huge mist that came through the trees and began to cover the entire area of the confrontation. Within seconds, everyone involved in the fight was inside the thick purple smoke.
"I get what you're trying to do, Azmuth," said Albedo, "but that trick won't work twice on me."
In a few seconds, the mist began to dissipate, leaving only silence and a huge area of destruction in the heart of the Bellwood forest.