Disclaimer: English is not my first language. I'm using Grammarly to check the Grammar and using Word to write it.
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It was pure chaos.
I couldn't think of another way to describe the scene before me.
Members from both gangs were hiding behind cars and shooting at each other.
The ABB had the advantage since Oni Lee kept leaving his clones with explosives behind Empire lines. I could already see a lot of bodies on their side.
And in the middle of the street there he was.
Lung.
He stood nearly three meters tall and was entirely covered in scales. The Empire members fired at Lung, who continued to walk towards them unperturbed.
The bullets weren't slowing Lung down, nor were they causing him any harm. In fact, they seemed to speed up his transformation.
Lung ignited his hands and began hurling fireballs forward, targeting the vehicles the Empire members were using for cover. Those struck by the fireballs exploded, causing the casualties on the Empire side to rise.
The ABB members, who had been slowly advancing, came to a halt as ghostly soldiers emerged from the ground and attacked them.
Those are Crusader ghost duplicates.
Cars with Empire reinforcement started to arrive, and with them came the rest of the gang's capes.
Menja, Victor, Othala, Crusader, Alabaster.
"I'm not seeing Kaiser," I frowned.
"Look to your left," Medea said.
Oh, there he is.
Kaiser arrived on a floating piece of rubble the size of a bus, with Rune standing behind him.
"Lung! You dare attack us!?" Kaiser shouted.
"You finally decided to show your face! Come down and fight me, Kaiser!" Lung roared.
Kaiser scoffed, "You're always thinking with your fists. But what else could I expect from a savage."
Lung laughed, "You really think you can keep up that smug attitude while a rookie hero is kicking your ass!?"
"They will pay for their crimes and face the wrath of the Empire! After we crush all of you, Chaldea will be next!" Kaiser shouted furiously.
Lung ignited his hands and hurled fireballs at Kaiser. In response, Kaiser leaped down and summoned iron spears from the ground, piercing Lung in multiple places across his body.
Lung roared in anger, grabbing one of the iron Spears impaled in his body and ripping it out. He superheated the spear with his fire and hurled it towards Kaiser.
Kaiser constructed a six-layer barrier of iron spears to block the incoming spear. The spear came to a halt at the fifth layer, having melted the first four. Despite successfully blocking the attack, Kaiser had to quickly dodge to the side as Lung unleashed a wave of fire towards him.
This reignited the brawl, with members from both gangs resuming their clashes.
"Oh, he got some moves," Cú Chulainn was looking at Lung with a bloodthirsty smile.
"The way he fights reminds me of Vlad," Medea commented, seeing Kaiser's fighting style.
This's getting uglier by the minute, we have to stop this.
But first, I'm going to call reinforcements.
"Morgan, come to my side," I used a command spell.
In a brief flash of light, Morgan appeared next to me. She took one look at the chaos and quickly grasped the situation.
Before I could begin issuing orders, Barghest spoke first.
"We gotta company," Barghest looked behind us.
I followed her gaze and saw Dauntless coming towards us rapidly.
"Magus! I'm glad to see you gu-holy shit!" Dauntless finally saw the brawl that was happening on the street.
Yeah, this's a shit show.
"Where's the rest of the Protectorate?" I asked.
"Armsmaster and Miss Militia are expected to arrive in three minutes. Assault and Battery are coming with the troopers, and Velocity is nearby, waiting for me to update him on the situation," Dauntless didn't look away from the brawl.
"What about New Wave?" I asked.
"I don't know when they will arrive," Dauntless said.
"Something is coming fast," Barghest looked up with narrow eyes.
Someone descended from the sky and struck Menja in the stomach with such force that she was lifted off the ground and hurled against a nearby building.
The culprit was no other than Glory Girl.
I gotta say, that's one hell of a way to make an entrance.
The fight came to a halt as everyone turned their attention to Glory Girl.
"Oh, you guys started without me," Glory Girl said with a confident smile.
Wait a second, I'm not seeing the rest of New Wave.
Dauntless cursed, "Damm it, she went off on her own again."
"She's alone!?" I said alarmed.
"Velocity, move in now!" Dauntless flew into the battle.
"Saber, Lancer, Berserker, focus on the capes!" I turned to Medea. "Caster, launch a flashbang into the Empire reinforcements."
"Hassan, be ready to grab Othala," I said.
Barghest, Cú Chulainn, and Morgan leaped down the street and joined the fight.
Medea collected a sphere of magical energy at the tip of her staff and hurled it at her target. The Empire backlines were momentarily blinded by the intense light.
Hassan appeared behind Othala and struck her neck, rendering her unconscious. Hassan quickly seized Othala and jumped away before the members of the Empire could react.
Victor glanced around as his vision returned to normal, trying to make sense of what had happened, only to realize that Othala was missing.
"Where's Othala!" Victor shouted, looking around trying to find her.
"Get behind the ABB and summon dragon tooth warriors and send them to capture the non-powered members," I said.
Medea took me to the end of the street, behind ABB forces, and summoned an army of dragon tooth warriors. She also created a barrier that covered us both.
Medea dispatched the dragon tooth warriors to apprehend the non-powered members of the ABB.
Hassan dropped off Othala near us and vanished once more. Medea summoned an ethereal chain, using them to bind Othala. She also created a that encompassed all three of us.
"Good work Hassan," I said.
The ABB members noticed the advancing dragon tooth warriors and redirected some of their firepower in an attempt to stop them. Their efforts were in vain as the dragon tooth warriors vastly outnumbered them.
Medea set up a new barrier to contain the captured members of the ABB. After all of them were enclosed within the barrier, she dispelled the majority of the dragon tooth warriors. She sent the remaining to watch the barrier.
It wasn't really necessary; it was just an extra precaution.
Suddenly, my instincts screamed at me of danger coming from my left. I reinforced my right arm and swung a punch toward the threat.
My fist collided with Oni Lee's stomach, causing him to spit blood in response. Oni Lee responded to my attack by swinging his left arm, which held a switchblade, aiming for my neck. I quickly raised my left arm to block, and the blade stopped when it struck my forearm, unable to pierce through.
I did notice that my forearm had glowed for a moment after being struck by the switchblade.
I'm going to buy whatever model Medea wants later.
"Why you little!" Medea hissed.
Medea conjures ethereal chains, binding Oni Lee tightly. In response, he glances sideways and then erupts into ashes.
I frowned, "Can't you do anything about his teleportation?"
"He shouldn't have been able to teleport inside the barrier, to begin with it," Medea frowned. "Without knowing the method he used, I'm not sure I can stop it."
Fuck, that's not good.
"Excuse me," A voice said to our side.
Medea and I turned to the voice.
Velocity stood there, clutching a couple of weapons in his grasp.
"Can I leave this with you guys?" Velocity asked.
I nodded, and Velocity placed the weapons on the ground before going to grab more.
Medea encased all the guns in ice as soon as Velocity stopped bringing in more.
"Miss Militia and Armsmaster have arrived," Hassan said.
I looked over my shoulder to see them rapidly approaching the scene.
"What're those things?" Armsmaster said, gripping his halberd tightly as he looked at the dragon tooth warriors.
Miss Militia summoned an assault rifle and aimed at the dragon tooth warriors.
"Don't! They're with us!" I exclaimed.
Miss Milita lowered her weapon and Armsmasert rushed to join the battle.
"You can summon skeletons?" Miss Milia walked next to us.
"They're called dragon tooth warriors and it was Caster that summoned them," I explained.
Miss Militia glanced at Caster.
"Hi," Miss Militia said.
"Hey," Medea said, eyeing Miss Militia's weapon with curiosity.
Miss Militia notices the tied Othala.
"You captured Othala," Miss Militia said surprised.
"This way the Empire won't be able to stay long in the fight," I said.
"And they're?" Miss Militia asked, referring to the imprisoned ABB members.
"Those're all the members of the ABB that Lung brought," I said.
Their capture didn't affect the fight at all.
Lung completely transformed into a dragon and, most importantly, continued to grow larger.
I think he is a little above six meters in height.
How much more can this bastard grow?
And I don't think Lung even notices that all his men are captured.
Miss Militia began searching for a vantage point.
"Wanna lift to the rooftop?" I asked.
"Yes," Miss Militia said immediately.
Wind gathered at Miss Militia's feet, propelling her up to a rooftop. Upon landing, she switched her weapon to a sniper rifle and began shooting the Empire backlines.
Lung tackled Menja into a building and began breathing fire at her. Menja crossed her arms over her face to shield it.
Various iron spears had pierced Lung's legs in an attempt to separate him from Menja but the effort was in vain. Lung responded by breathing even more fire at Menja.
Lung only stopped when Dauntless stabbed his left eye with his arclance. Lung threw Menja aside and roared in fury, redirecting his focus to Dauntless.
Kaiser was struggling to impale Barghest, Cú Chulainn, and Morgan. The iron spears weren't capable of penetrating Barghest's armor nor Morgan's barrier and Cú Chulainn effortlessly dodged each attack.
Crusader attempted to trap Morgan using his ghost duplicates to eliminate her. However, he failed to notice the magical circle Morgan had conjured beneath him. His stamina was drained until he lost his conscience, causing all his ghost duplicates to vanish.
"Grab him!" Victor shouted as he exchanged shots with Miss Militia.
Two members of the Empire ran and grabbed Crusader, taking him away from the battle.
Rune was on the defensive, using a piece of rubble the size of a car to keep Glory Girl at bay. However, Glory Girl effortlessly shatters the rubble with her fist and charges directly at Rune.
It turned into a cat-and-mouse game. Rune desperately trying to evade Glory Girl, who was persistent in her pursuit.
I shifted my focus to Armsmaster to check on how he was doing.
Armsmaster was struggling in his battle against Alabaster. It wasn't Alabaster himself causing the difficulty, but rather the relentless iron spears that Armsmaster had to keep dodging.
Alabaster, however, remained unfazed by the spears that did strike every now and then; his wounds healed almost immediately, allowing him to continue attacking Armsmaster relentlessly.
"What a bad match-up," Medea said.
Armsmaster pressed a button on his halberd, electrifying it, and thrust at Alabaster, striking him in the stomach.
The shock appeared to do nothing to Alabaster except irritate him.
"Kaiser interference is certainly not helping," I said.
This brings back many memories of when I faced enemies who were invulnerable or had some form of protection against all types of attacks.
I hated those fights.
"Give him a hand," I said.
Medea summoned a magical circle at Alabaster's feet, encasing them in concrete and effectively pinning him in place.
"The hell!" Alabaster exclaimed, trying to break free.
Armsmaster seized this opportunity, grabbed a foam grenade, and threw it at Alabaster's feet. The grenade exploded, enveloping him in foam up to his neck.
Armsmaster glanced at us with a frown and rushed to help Dauntless.
I raised an eyebrow at his reaction.
Lung was attempting to tear Barghest apart with his claws, but his efforts were futile as Barghest continuously countered by severing his claws.
Dauntless and Armsmaster were also attacking Lung, however, their attacks were ineffective and went unnoticed, as Lung's entire focus was on Barghest.
Lung ignited his entire body, intending to unleash a wave of fire that would engulf everyone around him.
Morgan doesn't let him have his way. She conjures magical circles around him that absorb the flames. Harnessing the flames, she creates a falcon the size of an adult and sends it to attack Lung.
Oni Lee teleported behind Cú Chulainn, attempting to slash his throat with a knife. However, Cú Chulainn moved faster, evading the attack and piercing Oni Lee shouder with his spear.
Before Oni Lee could teleport away, Cú Chulainn spun Gáe Bolg and hurled him against a building wall. As Cú Chulainn prepared for another strike, he had to leap back as iron spears burst from the ground.
Oni Lee couldn't evade the attack and was impaled in the left thigh and stomach by an iron spear. Moments later, he disintegrated into ashes.
Cú Chulainn glared at Kaiser.
Cú Chulainn charged towards Kaiser, shattering every iron spear that attempted to pierce him as he advanced.
Kaiser encased himself in a metal cocoon and unleashed a barrage of iron spears, aiming to overpower Cú Chulainn through sheer volume.
It didn't even come close to working.
In response to the growing number of iron spears, Cú Chulainn accelerated his pace and swiftly destroyed all the spears in his path within seconds, reaching the cocoon shortly after.
Cú Chulainn thrust his spear at the cocoon with such force that it was utterly destroyed, and Kaiser was struck on his left side. Somehow Kaiser got lucky and only sustained a deep cut instead of a new hole.
Cú Chulainn continued his assault by spinning his spear and striking Kaiser squarely in the chest, sending him flying backward several meters. Kaiser bounced off the ground a few times before coming to a stop.
Oh yeah, that broke a few of his ribs.
Menja rejoined the battle, her arms and neck were wrapped in bandages, and thrusts her spear at Cú Chulainn with the intent to kill him.
Cù Chulainn tightened his hold on Gae Bolg and met the attack head-on. A shockwave erupted from the collision of their weapons. He managed to deflect Menja's spear, causing it to drive into the ground. However, Menja was undeterred; she raised her foot, aiming to crush Cú Chulainn beneath it.
Before Menja could bring down her foot, she was suddenly bombarded by lasers.
"Finally," I muttered.
Man, they took a while to get here.
Laserdream and Lady Photon repeatedly blasted Menja with their lasers, forcing her to step away from Cú Chulainn.
They weren't the only ones to arrive; the rest of New Wave, minus Panacea, also showed up, along with Assault, Battery, and the PRT troopers.
"Hey! I got Othala here!" I yelled to Assault.
"Damn, you've been busy," Assault said as he approached me, with Battery beside him and a squad of PRT troopers trailing closely behind.
"Are those skeletons?" Battery asked surprised.
"Dragon tooth warriors and Caster's the one that summoned them," I said.
Medea lowered the barrier and dismissed the ethereal chains wrapped around Othala, allowing the troopers to cuff her hands and transport her to a nearby truck.
"Man, you have no idea how many times we tried to capture her," Assault said.
There are many ways to weaken your enemies. One of them is to eliminate the medic.
"It won't be long now," I thought.
"Retreat!!!" Kaiser shouted.
There it is.
Without Othala, their injuries, and all the heroes present, the Empire can't continue this fight.
"Retreat!" Kaiser was clutching his side, trying to stanch the bleeding.
The normal members of the Empire were rushing towards the vehicles that were still working, eager to escape.
Menja was waving her spear around wildly, trying to keep Laserdream, Lady Photon, and Glory Girl away.
Rune swiftly lowered the piece of rubble she had been using, making room for Kaiser and Victor to climb on it, and for the still-unconscious Crusader to be placed on.
Rune quickly took off once they were all aboard the rubble.
Menja lingered for a few moments, covering the retreat of the other members before leaving once they were all driving away. The ground shook with each of her steps as she didn't shrink down.
Glory Girl was about to go after her but was stopped by Lady Photon.
As good as it would have been to continue the attack on the Empire, we have a bigger problem.
"I...never seen him this big," Battery said, her voice tinged with fear.
"He's at what? Eight meters tall?" I asked.
"Eight and a half," Medea said.
Yeah, that's big. But the good news is that despite his size, Lung still isn't able to turn the fight in his favor.
Lung's body is covered in wounds, his left wing is gone and his right hand is missing its fingers.
All of his wounds were healing but not fast enough.
Assault and Battery rushed to join the other heroes in fighting Lung.
Laserdream and Lady Photon began firing lasers at Lung, Flashbang launched orbs of light that exploded into blinding flashes each time they struck Lung's face.
Lung was moving his head around in an attempt to dodge Flashbang attacks.
Barghest ignited her blade and rushed towards Lung's left leg while he was distracted. With a fierce roar, she swung her blade in a wide arc and severed his limb.
Lung cried out in agony as he collapsed to his knees, bracing himself with his hands on the ground. In an act of defiance, he unleashed a torrent of fire all around him. But it was for naught as Morgan, once again, created magical circles that absorbed the fire.
Glory Girl flies above Lung's head and delivers a powerful double-hammer fist strike to his head. The force of the blow caused his head to snap down violently, and the impact made the ground shake.
Morgan thrust her demonic spear at a small portal that had opened before her. Above Lung, a larger version of Morgan's spear made of light materialized and descended, stabbing him in the back and pinning him down.
Lung was groaning on the ground, struggling to move when Glory Girl descended and delivered a powerful haymaker to his head. The impact shattered the ground under Lung's head, sending pieces of debris flying in all directions.
Lung stopped moving, and everyone observed him closely, waiting to see if he would make another attempt to continue the fight.
The answer became evident as Lung began to transform back into his human form.
I released a sigh of relief that I hadn't realized that I was holding.
God, what a way to end the night.
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"What did you guys think about Lung?" I asked.
"He was strong but doesn't compare to a real dragon," Barghest said.
"That may be true but he still put up a hell of a fight," Cú Chulainn said.
Barghest, Cú Chulainn, and I watched as the PRT troopers rounded up all the members of the ABB and the unconscious Lung.
Armsmaster was keeping a close eye on Lung.
The troopers had a tough time trying to cuff Alabaster, who wouldn't stop struggling until Manpower stepped in to assist them.
It was funny to see Manpower smack the back of Alabaster's head with enough force to make him faceplant on the ground.
After that, the troopers dogpile Alabaster and cuffed him.
Medea was chatting with Miss Militia and Velocity.
Dauntless was talking with Assault and Battery.
Glory Girl and Brandish were in the middle of a heated argument while Lady Photon attempted to mediate.
Shielder, Laserdream, and Flashbang went home.
Morgan went to grab Lung's leg so she could examine it later. She was curious to see how his power affected his body.
"Whose territory are we grabbing?" Cú Chulainn asked.
I sighed, "Why does this feel like we're going to take over the city?"
"The gangs control too much of the city," Barghest frowned.
Ain't that a sad truth.
I'm not a fan of the idea of claiming territory, but if we don't take action, someone else will.
"It's going to be the ABB but before that, I'm going to call for reinforcements," I said.
The ruby should have enough magical energy by now.
Morgan walked back to us.
"Hey, did you grab the leg?" I asked.
Morgan shook her head, "It's pointless; I scanned it and it's just a normal human leg."
I raised an eyebrow, "Seriously?"
Morgan nodded.
So, Lung's power didn't turn him into a pseudo-dragon. Could it be just a coincidence that he looks like a dragon when he transforms?
I glanced at Dauntless and saw that he was by himself.
Let's see what he knows about this mess.
"I will be right back," I said.
I walked to Dauntless.
"Hey," Dauntless said tiredly.
"Long night, huh," I said.
"Tell me about it. I'm just glad that it's finally over," Dauntless said.
I hummed in agreement.
The Empire lost too many capes, the ABB lost Lung, and Oni Lee was critically injured.
The gang war was over.
"You doing okay?" I asked.
Dauntless made a so-so gesture.
"I can't wait to go home. What about you guys? Anyone need medical attention?" Dauntless asked.
"Thanks, but we're good," I looked at the destroyed street.
This's going to take a while to fix. May I summon Avicebron next and ask him to use his golems to help with repairing the street.
"It's not fair!" Glory Girl shouted.
Dauntless and I turned our attention to Glory Girl.
The argument she was having with Brandish seems to have taken a turn for the worse.
Dauntless sighed, "They could at least go to a more private place."
"They have many arguments?" I inquired.
"Only when Glory Girl charges recklessly into battles, which happens far too often," Dauntless said.
So, Brandish's probably more scared than angry with Glory Girl's recklessness. In the end, she's just a mother that's worried about her daughter.
...I wonder what Mom and Dad would think about this whole cape business.
You know what, I'm not going down this rabbit hole.
Let's focus on something else.
"Do you know what encouraged Lung to make this attack?" I asked.
Dauntless shrugged, "No idea. We were keeping a closer eye on the ABB but there was nothing pointing that Lung would make his move this soon."
I don't think Lung planned for this. He was emboldened to attack tonight by that phone call.
I need to know more about it.
"I also got a report about what the dragon tooth warriors delivered to the police and the PRT. The troopers stationed at the lobby were quite surprised when Hookwolf was left at the doorstep," Dauntless said.
"What about Hellhound? She was supposed to be delivered together with Hookwolf," I frowned.
"Hold on," Dauntless used his earpiece. "HQ, this's Dauntless. Do you have Hellhound in custody?"
Dauntless paused for a moment before answering me.
"They don't have her," Dauntless said.
How did she escape?
I let out a sigh of frustration.
"What's the matter?" Medea asked as she approached me.
"Hellhound escaped," I said.
Medea raised an eyebrow.
"Dauntless!" Miss Militia called out.
"Looks like I have to go. See you guys later," Dauntless walked to Miss Militia.
"Bye," I said.
It was also time for us to go home.
Medea and I walked back to Barghest, Cú Chulainn and Morgan.
"Let's go home," I said.
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