Zombie Domination

Static crackled in their comms before a stern voice cut in.

"You must kill the Sky Whale now, before it regrows its barrier again!"

Leo barked out a sharp laugh, his tone dripping with sarcasm even as he wiped ichor from his cracked exoskeleton.

"Oh, brilliant advice! Why didn't I think of that? Maybe because every time we strike, it counters with an endless goddamn supply of energy?"

Julian exhaled slowly, his gaze locked on the raging colossus above. His voice was calm, but edged with disdain.

"City Lord... we're taking a moment to breathe and set our strategy. The coward with fresh stamina is distracting the beast just fine. For once, he's actually proving useful." His eyes flicked to Rafael, still straining to keep the magnetic barrier up.

From the gates below, Noah's polite voice broke through, strained with desperation.

"Sir Julian… I beg you, please protect my lord!"

Julian's lips curled into a faint smirk, his reply flat and merciless.

"Your lord doesn't need protection. He's strong, stronger than you give him credit for. And wasn't it you who once begged me to trust him? Consider that wish granted."

Noah stammered, his voice trembling through the line.

"Y-you misunderstand, I only meant—"

Julian cut him off coldly, his tone leaving no room for protest.

"Focus on your post. Keep your eyes on your target and stop meddling in things beyond you."

The comms fell silent for a moment, only the roar of the Sky Whale and the crackle of magnetic energy filling the air.

And then Noah's voice came back through the line, gentle, subdued, almost resigned.

"...Very well, Sir Julian. As you command."

The channel fell quiet, leaving only the pounding winds and the guttural cries of the Sky Whale shaking the battlefield.

Leo shot Julian a sarcastic glance, his voice dripping with mockery.

"You're really cold, aren't you?"

Julian didn't bother to answer, his expression unchanging.

Joe let out a dry laugh, stepping in as though he understood it all.

"That's not coldness. That's Julian's way of showing faith in that loser."

Julian tightened his grip on his blade, glancing at his teammates.

"Enough. We move."

Julian watched Rafael hold his ground against the sky whale's assault, and he had to admit the man was doing surprisingly well. Not useless after all, measuring his worth. Julian still had his boost skill untouched, waiting to be unleashed. As for his offensive skill was too punishing on his own body, he couldn't afford to drag this fight out. It had to end quickly, before the weight of it tore him apart.

Joe's flames flared to life around his fists as he grinned, the bruises on his body already knitting back together. "Let's give the bastard no room to breathe."

Leo cracked his neck, chittering echoes running through his half-insect form. "Took the words right out of my mouth."

Together, the Zero Division surged forward once more, flanking Rafael, who stood trembling yet unyielding, his magnetic field still crackling against the crushing pressure of the beast's aura. Their strikes lit up the sky, fire and lightning tearing through the mist as steel and shadow carved into the whale's armored flesh.

Rafael's strained voice broke through the comms, laced with panic but also determination.

"J-just don't let it break through! I can hold it… I can hold it!"

Their combined assault tore forward in a blaze of fire, lightning, and shadow, but the timing faltered. Joe's flames surged too far ahead, forcing Leo to swerve midair, while Rafael's magnetic force pulled debris into their path, scattering the formation.

"Hey, watch your spacing!" Leo barked, just as the Sky Whale's colossal maw opened, gathering a vortex of frost and raw energy.

The blast came down like a tidal wave of ice and light. The shockwave hurled them apart, nearly swallowing Joe whole.

Julian's eyes widened. Not like this.

His veins surged with crackling current as he growled, "[Boost]!"

Power erupted through his body, muscles straining against the surge. Lightning licked across his arms, while his shadow bent unnaturally, stretching into jagged blades that wrapped around him like a living arsenal. He lunged, faster than the eye could follow, intercepting the whale's strike.

The clash lit up the heavens, Julian's lightning-charged slash colliding with the beast's frozen beam, scattering shards of frost and arcs of violet electricity in every direction.

"Don't freeze up now!" Julian roared through the comms, his voice cutting through the static.

Joe bared his teeth, his voice hard with resolve.

"I'll burn that whale to ashes!"

He unleashed his power, and his body began to change. Scales thickened, armor-like, while the horns curling from his head stretched longer and sharper.

Through the comms, Leo's dry voice cut in as he dodged the blinding sweep of the whale's laser.

"What's this, lizard? Trying to evolve into a komodo?"

Joe ignored the jab, his voice rising like a roar as the transformation consumed him.

"[Dragon's Ascend]!"

His body twisted further, scales shimmering with heat, eyes glowing feral. The last traces of his human form melted away as he embraced the beast within, every movement more savage, closer to a true dragon.

Joe reignited, flames flaring like a second sun. Leo spun forward, his chitinous wings slicing the air as he dove. Even Rafael, shaking and drenched in sweat, pushed his magnetism to anchor Julian's footing against the crushing blast.

For a moment, the chaos wove itself into rhythm, their powers layering into a cinematic storm of flame, lightning, shadow, and steel, hammering against the leviathan's hide.

The Sky Whale screamed, thrashing under the force of their synchronized strike.

The storm of their combined assault finally broke through. Julian's lightning-carved shadow blades slashed deep into the beast's flank, while Joe's flames seared across the open wound. Leo dove with insectoid precision, piercing his claws into exposed flesh, and Rafael's magnetic surge twisted the Sky Whale's armored scales apart, widening the damage.

The leviathan roared, a guttural cry that shook the sky. Its massive body lurched, staggering back through the clouds. For the first time since the battle began, the creature reeled, its colossal frame forced into retreat.

"Did we… did we actually push it back?" Rafael's voice cracked with disbelief.

Joe barked out a laugh, wild and breathless. "Hell yeah we did! That's what happens when you piss us off!"

Julian didn't smile, but his eyes narrowed with cold satisfaction. "Don't get cocky. That was just a scratch compared to what it can take."

Still, in the distance, the beast's bleeding wound glowed faintly, scattering droplets of searing blue ichor that rained across the clouds below. A clear mark that their attacks had finally pierced its defenses.

Joe's grin was almost manic. "See that? We can actually do this. We just have to keep hammering it until it drops."

Julian exhaled slowly, his voice flat. "Optimism won't kill a beast that big. If we keep charging without thinking, one mistake and we're done."

Leo chuckled darkly, wiping ichor from his claws. "He's right. That thing's still laughing at us inside. We poked it, nothing more."

Rafael hovered nervously, sparks of magnetic energy still dancing around his hands. "But… it is bleeding. That has to mean something, doesn't it?"

Julian glanced at him, sharp and unrelenting. "It means now it's angry. And when it's angry, we'll see if you can hold the line without trembling."

Rafael's throat tightened, but he forced himself to nod. "I'll… try."

Joe spat fire into his palm, heat curling around his grin. "That's the spirit."

The Sky Whale let out a bone-shaking roar, the sound splitting the skies like thunder tearing the world in half. Its massive body twisted, and in one violent motion, the air froze, the temperature plummeted so fast that their breath crystallized in front of their faces.

"Brace!" Julian shouted, but it was already too late.

A torrent of ice shards erupted from the beast's maw, each one like a spear the size of a man. They whistled through the air with lethal precision. Joe threw up a wall of fire, his flames roaring to meet the onslaught, but the clash only shattered both elements into a deadly storm of steam and razor fragments.

"Damn it!" Joe coughed, blood dripping from a cut across his cheek.

Before they could recover, the whale's eyes lit with a sinister glow, and a colossal beam of pale-blue energy lanced across the sky. It carved through clouds, splitting the heavens open as it barreled straight toward them.

"Scatter!" Leo roared, his insectoid wings buzzing furiously as he dragged Rafael out of the beam's path. The explosion behind them was deafening, the shockwave throwing their bodies like ragdolls.

Julian crashed against a broken fragment of floating debris, his body aching, lightning crackling instinctively around him. His vision blurred, but he forced his feet under him. "The whale looked as though it had grown tired of this… it wants us dead."

The whale wasn't finished. With a savage twist of its body, its massive tail swept across the battlefield, smashing through floating rock and sending waves of compressed air strong enough to tear apart steel. The sheer force rattled their bones, scattering their formation yet again.

Through the chaos, the beast's guttural cry echoed, its wounds still bleeding but its presence more terrifying, and relentless.