From the beginning, Meditat had always focused his suit's improvement on his own protection, making sure that he could survive the fights he charged into. His first suit completely ignored armor of any kind, and he was horribly punished for such a mistake, and from then he made it his mission to perfect the protection his suit could provide while still keeping it from being a massive monster of destruction like his immediate iteration.
He spent a month upgrading his suit after various failures during battle, physically adding more armor and padding to different parts of his body, creating new digital systems that could be used to moderate him, and designing entire new components that would attend to strikes out of his visual cone.
In his latest battle in the mall however, he found himself colliding with a whole new issue, one that was of its own category. While he did technically lose due to having been beat down, his suit wasn't weak persay, as due to the constant stalemate he was under, he was bound to get beat up eventually.
No, the main issue was that he had no weapons of his own, as his opponent utilized projectiles and could keep distance, while Meditat's only abilities were limited heavily by range. His suit was able to hold out very well, as he was able to protect himself for a great length of time and even protect others, however that said the entire suit was only good defensively, and couldn't provide any fire of its own.
If Meditat couldn't fight back, then his whole mission would fall apart, as he'd have no chance of ever beating the Exhumans. For as smart as he knew he was, he felt like an utter imbecile for not accounting for such an obvious component to any fight.
To combat this lack, Meditat shifted his attention off of bettering the protection of his suit, as he felt it would be adequate for a fight as long as he had a chance to win, and instead he focused on providing himself with weapons to fight with.
He also of course continued to work on improving Orial, as he was still not as operational as Meditat envisioned, but that was work that he could put to the side when he was in the city.
It was already tricky to improve his armor while having almost no experience in how to create protective suits, as he for the most part wasn't sure what he was doing, but it was a whole other tier to design weapons. Meditat had never been in nor witnessed a war or any armed conflict, and he hardly even viewed fictional media that included fights with weapons, and the media he had watched with such violence depicted the soldiers wielding extremely primitive weapons such as swords and bows, something Meditat knew would be completely useless in battle.
He couldn't really use his experiences in the city for ideas either, as none of the Exhumans he fought really wielded weapons, as they were able to use their raw ability to compensate.
As such, he had few references or ideas for weaponry that would be able to combat gods, and so in having to start a new journey, he returned to square 1: The air hockey suit.
While the basis of his suit was the air hockey equipment he received by his college, he hadn't exactly integrated every system from the suit into his own, as he for the most part only thought about the basic structure of the piece he'd wear himself, and the movement system he'd use to traverse the city.
However, there was a major part of the suit that he did not integrate early on: The traction gauntlets. The gauntlets used to reel and hold the puck, and then used to fire it into the goal.
Meditat initially saw no use in integrating such devices since he wouldn't be playing with pucks anyways, however that was limiting his mind to the only traditional use of the system.
The city was under the dark blanket of the night, yet the streets were lit from the buildings around it, which have glowing strips that run up the corners and large holographic billboards for advertisements, which were plastered everywhere.
Versepolis was known for many different sites, as they were known as the ruling empire of business, and so they had many places to treat their customers. This was in the form of stadiums for sports, and grand concert halls, as music was still a very prominent component of culture throughout the Superverse, and Earth 50 was no different.
One of the most famous halls was known as the Nightingale, named after the species of bird well known for its beautiful singing. The hall sat in the middle regions of the city, however was still more towards the edge, as it required more space and thus had to be pushed farther from the skyscrapers that dominated the central districts.
The hall was shaped like a great golden bowl, with an open top and curved walls that stand over the shorter buildings that sit around the main attraction. While the silver or chrome body of most other buildings were beautiful in their own right, there was something magical about the gold shine of the hall, which even glows in the light, if anything more so.
One of the benefits of the bowl design was that the music could be heard slightly from the outside if the energy ceiling was let down for certain occasions, thus bringing music to the area around the building as well. Although, there was a smart marketing tactic to this, as the music wasn't perfectly clear, and so while it sounded beautiful, it would make those standing outside the building inclined to hear with greater clarity, thus driving them to enter and request to pay for a seat inside.
Of course, there was not one square inch of Versepolis that wasn't being capitalized by subtle design, and while many people grew aware, they still appreciated being able to hear some music.
Not too far from the Nightingale was Meditat, who was swinging from buildings lined up beside the street, and while they weren't exactly skyscrapers, they were still adequate.
His suit still appears the exact same as it did in the mall, as he didn't seem to have made any exterior designs, or at least any noticeable in the state he was currently in.
He boosted himself past buildings before pulling himself for more height, just making his rounds around the district, trying to search out for any crimes in place.
His cape flapped behind him from the speed of his flight, as he swung from building to building, the rush of wind in front of him striking his masked face.
Meditat asks, "Orial, have you gotten anything on the map?"
Orial responds, "No, sorry. Actually, is it okay if I report a pretty consistent trend I've noticed?"
Meditat answers with enthusiasm, "Of course, Orial! I want you to be able to take notes of what's happening and use that, say whatever you want, I'm listening."
Orial continues, "Okay: I noticed that several of the scenes of crimes caused by Exhumans are in enclosed and covered spaces, such as the Arct mall, the room with the loud Exhuman, and the room with the shelves and burning Exhuman."
Meditat quickly corrects: "Bar and store, but it's fine, go on."
Orial does so, "Yes, anyways, these interior locations can't be seen from the satellites of the map since they look downwards, and I don't have authority to access x-ray mode because it seems to be locked for government access only."
Meditat sighs, and he says, "True, I see what you mean. So what you're saying is, there are a lot of crimes that you can't see. Hmm well, we need to figure a better solution, I already knew the map would really only be good for traversing the city, so I guess we need something to better detect Exhumans."
Orial responds, "Yes, I believe the ability to scan for signatures exclusively exhibited by Exhumans would help, but I know we don't have that. Is there any other options you have?"
Meditat hums for a few moments, throwing himself off of buildings and thrusting his chest forward for a boost. He thinks for an answer to Orial's question, as while he was pleased to witness Orial work on his initiative, it wasn't so easy knowing what to say.
His mind then goes back to when he first discovered the Exhumans, far back when he still didn't even know of his abilities. An idea comes to mind, and he decides to say it.
Meditat suggests, "Well, Orial, you should have the ability to access and traverse the internet, and thus you should be able to access active news articles and such. Maybe you can try to use that to follow any news on current Exhuman activity, there should be something. It's not a perfect strategy though, we'll figure something better later."
Orial responds, "Yes, I'll do that then. Thank you."
Meditat says back, "No problem," and continues swinging down the streets, approaching the Nightingale unintentionally.
He eventually ends up a few streets from the hall, however he is facing parallel to it, and thus doesn't even notice its presence. He takes a deep breath as his blue eyes stare down the street, searching for an intersection to turn on, as he noticed there was no activity where he was, and he didn't want to waste time while others could possibly be hurt.
While Meditat swings down the street, the sound of orchestral music starts to fly in the distance beside him, starting out with soft violins, as though music was beginning to play.
Meditat hears the music, but he doesn't pay too much attention to it, as he was more focused on finding a fight.
However Orial asks, "I am picking up an odd sound, which is different from anything else I've heard. Could that be an Exhuman's ability? I've noticed that they seem to also make strange sounds similar to humming."
Meditat turns his head towards the source of the music after it was pointed out, and he says with surprise to Orial's curiosity: "Huh? That? That's not an Exhuman, don't worry, unless their energy sounds like an instrumental. No, that's just music, I guess there's some concert playing right now."
Orial asks, "Music? What is music? Hmm, it is the 'vocal or instrumental sounds, or both, combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion.' I am not entirely sure what that means though, the sounds I hear are not expressions of emotion such as crying or screaming."
Meditat chuckles to himself, and he corrects, "No no no, that's not what it means. Hmm...you know what...I guess I have some time to check it out. But tell me if you pick up something."
Meditat takes a turn on the next intersection, and he follows the sound of the music, deciding he'd allow Orial to learn more about the world, as he seems curious. He sees the golden building in the distance, and figures it was most likely the hall due to its unique shape. He catapults himself upwards with two simultaneous pulls, and thrusts both his chest and feet up towards the building.
Once in range, he fires a link to the wall of the building itself, and throws himself up to the roof to get a view.
Meditat lands on the roof of the building, landing by the edge, where the top was still gold. He then looks down the center, and slowly walks forward, seeing just how wide the building was, as it seemed it spread over multiple blocks.
He looks down to see that while there was an edge for a roof, it didn't cover the entire top, as he looks down and finds that he was able to see the interior of the building from above, which was a massive concert hall full of seats leading up to the large stage, with the room being built with wood more than metals or other materials, as the floors, inner walls, and stage were all made of wood.
Many of the seats were filled with people, with the seats farther in the back being more elevated, letting anyone regardless of how far back they were to view the show.
In the front, where the stage is, were rows of what seems to be the instrumental players, who all sit in chairs except for the conductor, who stands on a podium in front of them, between the audience and the players. The conductor seems to wave a stick in the air with great arm movements, and the players all play in harmony, with a variety of string, brass, and woodwind instruments, all seeming to be legitimate instruments, with the string instruments being made of wood.
For a city so advanced in a world that seemed to be made of metal, the concert hall seems to be an extreme divergence from that path, as there hardly seems to be any real technology being used. From Meditat's zoom of the players, he notices that all of the instruments were being played legitimately, with none of them being electric, and while there was most likely some sort of sound amplifier to make the music loud enough for everyone to hear, it was clear that the sound everyone was hearing was genuine music coming from genuine instruments.
It was refreshing diversity from the artificial age, and brings back a naturality that some may feel has been lost in time.
Meditat walks to the edge of the roof, and he kneels down, staring at the concert play. He knew that he was somewhat cheating by bringing himself to the roof, which allowed him to hear the concert almost just as well as those in the audience, but he wanted to let Orial hear the music better.
He listens to the music as a fanfare plays with grand trumpets, and he smiles behind his mask, softly saying "This is music, Orial."
Orial responds curiously, "I see...I still do not understand, how does this sound express emotion? It is not a sound a normal person makes, unless they do and I did not know."
Meditat chuckles softly, and he shakes his head before explaining, "No, music is not meant to directly and literally mimic the sounds of an expression that people make, they're sounds that, well to the best of what I know, evoke emotion. Like how something like this is more intense and almost powerful in a way."
Orial asks, "So the speed and volume of the music depicts an emotion?"
Meditat sighs, and he answers, "Not really, it's more than that. I mean I don't really know all the ins and outs, but music is really complicated. Not all of those instruments down there are making the same sound, they each have their own sounds they make and in unison the sounds create one grander sound that has more depth. And either way, it's nice to listen to, right?"
Orial responds, "I don't see why it is any better than normal sounds like wind or people talking."
Meditat says, "Well, I guess that makes sense, it's not really something directly informative like speech, it's something more that makes you feel a certain way, it's complicated."
Orial says, "I see...I'm not sure how to feel, though."
Meditat tilts his head in confusion, and asks, "What do you mean?"
Orial answers, "You said that music is something that makes you feel, but I'm not sure how to do that. Am I not doing something correctly?"
Meditat straightens his neck, and he says, "Well...I guess I don't really know how to answer that question. You're not doing anything wrong, you're fine as you are, I guess maybe the way I described it wasn't the best. I guess you can appreciate its auditory complexity, right?"
Orial answers, "I can tell that these sounds are more complicated than normal sounds like talking, is that what you meant?"
Meditat shrugs his shoulders, and he responds, "I guess that works. I don't know, I guess I don't really know entirely what I'm saying, as I said I'm not really into music at all."
While Meditat and Orial speak, the ensemble continues playing, going through different pieces for the audience both inside and outside the Nightingale. Meditat keeps an eye on the performance, as he didn't have much else to look at.
He then notices that from one of the audience entrances on the far side from the stage, another man enters the room, seeming to be wearing a formal white suit.
The man captivates Meditat's attention due to the uniqueness of the style, and he focuses on the man, watching as the man walks up the aisle, passing rows of seating, as though he was trying to find a seat farther up front.
The man doesn't seem to bat an eye to any of the seats however, as his full focus was on the ensemble. He has a serious stance, and his fists were closed. Meditat can't see his eyes, nor his face at all due to the angle he was at, but he slowly begins to get worried and concerned for the concert.
Meditat quietly asks Orial, "Hey...Orial?"
Orial responds, "Yes?"
Meditat says, "We may be engaging in combat soon, just make sure you're ready to check vitals and systems. Got it?"
Orial asks, "Wait, are you certain? There may be a chance that my cameras are suffering difficulties, it seems like we're still by the building that is playing the music. We are not near a fight."
Meditat takes a deep breath, and he answers, "Your camera is working just fine. But that man in the white suit is suspicious, maybe I'm being too paranoid, but I think we should prepare for the worst. There's a lot of people in this room...let's hope this is nothing but me jumping to wrong conclusions…."
Orial says, "Yes, I'll prepare then."
Meditat continues watching the man in the white suit, and he slowly reaches his hand past the roof, putting his hand past the top and in the interior of the concert hall. His hand passes through due to the lack of covering, and he pulls his hand back.
After having confirmed that there was no invisible roof, he slowly stands to his feet, ready to jump down and fight. His eyes glow blue as they stare through the goggles, and he breathes slowly yet heavily, mentally preparing himself. His hands close into fists, his eyes not moving away from the man.
He whispers, "Don't think about it…."
The man in the white suit continues walking towards the stage, with only a few rows left ahead of him, although all of those rows are completely packed, meaning he has no available seats ahead. He had passed all of the open seats farther in the back, something that once more seemed abnormal.
He then walks right up to the stage, and stares at the conductor, who faces away from him while leading the players.
Meditat takes one more deep breath, and then he stops, just waiting silently over the hall, ready to strike.
The man in the white suit coughs on his hand twice, as if trying to make his presence known, and to the surprise of the audience who sits behind him, his body begins levitating off the ground, allowing him to ascend above the stage itself.
The audience begins screaming in fear as they watch as Exhuman reveals himself in front of them, and some of them begin jumping out of their seats to run towards the exit.
The man slowly hovers towards the conductor, and he yells the command: "Drop your instruments, I'm taking them with me. You can all leave, or I'll separate you from my rewards myself."
Meditat, who had been waiting for the exact moment for the Exhuman to show his skin, immediately leaps off of the ground, jumping into the opening of the roof. He pulls his right arm back, and thrusts forward and a downward angle from his back, throwing himself at the Exhuman.
Meditat's right gauntlet suddenly seems to begin to morph, as the black band on his gauntlet begins expanding, wrapping around his whole arm, and the plates that make up his gauntlet starts to seem to expand out, almost as if they were duplicating, morphing to create a thicker gauntlet. The transformation was similar to how he'd activate his tractor beam in his air hockey suit, however it was making the gauntlet even thicker and better reinforced, while also forming plates that sit on top of his wrist, as if to hold his fist straight.
Different from the air hockey suit however, the black band on the gauntlet also starts to become overlapped by a heavily armored arm launcher, and even his gloves become armored by the same black plates.
The gauntlet finalizes, seeming far more intimidating and weaponized than the normal state, with the front of the launcher having a wide open muzzle.
The audience notice Meditat fly into the room, and they all run away, scared and confused. The conductor turns around, and he begins running away from the Exhuman, running towards the other players who also begin getting out of their chairs to run towards the back stage.
It seemed everyone, the audience and performers, were all attempting to retreat, as a fight was starting right in front of them. The conductor dropped his stick, and the players abandoned their instruments, knowing what cost they were losing, but being in too much fear to try protecting it.
As Meditat flies towards the man in the white suit, the man turns towards him, sensing the incoming danger. Meditat's arm launcher's muzzle begins to light up with a blue glow, similar to his energy's, as though it was charging up.
Blue and purple streams of plasma begin to shoot out of the launcher, however they're nearly immediately suspended in front of the muzzle, as though they were being held back. As the streams continue to fire, a sphere of plasma energy begins to build up, beginning in the size of a golf ball, but gradually becoming larger as more plasma streams are absorbed into it.
The muzzle of the launcher glows brightly as multiple streams build up the plasma orb, causing a loud humming and buzzing sound to come off of Meditat.
Meditat then throws his arm forward, aiming his fist at the man in the white collar, and the plasma orb releases, firing at the Exhuman criminal who sought to steal the instruments, which no doubt would bring him an immense amount of credits due to the value of something as antique.
The man and Meditat exchange glares, and right before the plasma ball could hit him, his body suddenly vanishes, stretching as though it glitched in front of Meditat's eyes.
The plasma ball flies through where the man once was, and instead strikes the edge of the stage, causing an explosion of energy that melts the front of the wooden stage.
The plasma launcher was a modified version of the air hockey suit's ability to fire pucks, as rather than firing physical objects that Meditat couldn't easily be able to obtain, it built up a charge from the energy that powers the system, and allows him to release it when he chooses to, giving him freedom of how powerful he wants his shot to be.
The act of firing the ball was even made to mimic the act of firing the puck, pulling the arm back before throwing it forward, making Meditat feel more comfortable since it was an act he was well used to, although increased to a far more dangerous level.
The gauntlet that was deployed for the plasma launcher was far more armored than the gauntlet in the air hockey suit due to the increase of power that was required to generate the shot, which would thus create greater recoil that needed to be accounted for. While the first shot was a miss, it did fire and explode nonetheless, confirming to Meditat that it worked.
Meditat lands on the stage a few feet from the burnt hole, watching the players and conductor run backstage, terrified for their lives. He then turns around to see the massive crowd of people try to run for the doors, trampling over one another as they try to make it out alive.
His attention is then brought up when he notices the man in the white suit suddenly reappear in the air, seeming to have teleported, meaning flight wasn't his only ability. He would be a hard opponent to catch, but as long as Meditat could place one shot, he could very well win, now that he had a weapon that he could fight with.
Meditat leaps forward, boosting in the air towards the Exhuman, who hovers in the air while watching his opponent.
Meditat throws his arm forward, yet he seems to not give himself the time to build up a charge, as that wasn't his intended first move for his next attack. Now knowing that his opponent was fast, he knew he needed to stop him in place if he hoped to land a victorious blow.
A translucent blue beam of energy fires out of an opening that seems to be hiding underneath the main plasma launcher, and it moves far faster, fast enough to make contact with the man. However, the beam doesn't seem to simply damage him, as he stands in the air unharmed by the energy link between him and Meditat.
Meditat then jerks his arm back, and as he does, he begins to start building up a charge again, with the plasma streams creating another orb.
The jerking of the arm causes the man in the white suit to suddenly fly towards him as if being pulled, as that was exactly what was happening, as Meditat used the second feature of his new plasma launcher on the Exhuman.
That second feature was the way an air hockey player would even obtain the puck in the first place: the tractor beam. Of course, this was only really used to bring the puck closer to the player and nothing more, but Meditat figured that he could find use out of a tractor beam, and decided to create one with far more energy output to be able to grab hold of heavier objects, and then give himself more control over those objects.
His maneuverability system did allow for a similar pulling action, however it could only throw Meditat himself towards wherever he aimed at, as it lacked the power to be able to do the opposite. This was intentional as Meditat didn't want to pull the buildings he meant to swing off or down, however it wouldn't be of any use in a situation where he needed to reel an object in.
Now, he had the ability to pull himself and pull others, and intended to use that move to take down the man.
As Meditat reels the Exhuman close, his armored fist clenches, ready to be thrown into the man's face for a knockout.
However, right as the Exhuman is about to meet the strike from the throwing of Meditat's fist, his body suddenly seems to become translucent itself, as though it was fading away. The same glitching effect seems to occur, and his body becomes hardly visible, losing tangibility and presence within reality.
Meditat throws his punch at the Exhuman, although his fist seems to fly straight through the translucent Exhuman, as though he wasn't even there. Furthermore, the energy pull seems to detach from the Exhuman due to the lack of concrete surface to attach to, and the man collides with the Meditat.
However, rather than the two striking each other, the Exhuman's body seems to simply pass through Meditat's body, as though it was a ghost.
Once the Exhuman completely passes through Meditat, his body suddenly becomes opaque again, and he kicks Meditat in the back. The kick to the back doesn't harm him due to the presence of the cape, but nonetheless Meditat fails his strike, and the man lands on the stage.
Meditat turns around to see that the Exhuman exhibited a third power, phasing, and was able to easily dodge his attacks. This would make striking far harder if it continued, however he wonders if a plasma orb would still be able to strike.
He wasn't entirely sure about the workings of the Exhuman's abilities, but he begins to try creating a mental profile during the fight, hoping to be able to think of a weakness to exploit.
It seems that the man has the ability to manipulate his own existence in a sense, or at least his presence, as he was able to move himself in space in unnatural ways, flight, was able to place himself in different areas of space unnaturally, teleportation, and was able to control how present his body was within a space and how it would react to other matter, phasing.
Meditat wasn't sure if he had seen all of the man's abilities, but even then, the ones he saw already displayed him as a formidable opponent.
He was already losing options on how to possibly defeat the man, but his best option was to try to see if his plasma launcher could impact the man even during phasing, as that could still let him win the fight. His cannon's energy was very different from a fist, and that difference in matter could possibly lead to a difference in results on collision.
Even if it wouldn't work, Meditat had to try regardless.
Meditat aims his left hand at the edge of the ceiling, where there was indeed a roof, and he uses it to suspend himself in the air, letting him get a view of the Exhuman.
He watches the Exhuman stand on the stage, his white blazer unbuttoned over a black vest, with its bottom sitting right above the white pants. The man looks back to see the rows of instruments sitting in front of chairs, staring at all that he could profit off of if he could get away with them.
The Exhuman turns back to Meditat, and he takes a step back, rolling his shoulders as if getting ready.
He needed one shot on the Exhuman, and needed to make sure it hit, meaning he had to catch the man off guard. An idea comes to mind, and he throws himself forward, detaching himself from the ceiling. He then aims his left arm at the wall ahead of himself, and pulls himself towards it with a boost, dashing back and forth between the walls of the hall.
Meditat pulls his arm back, and plasma streams begin to fire out of his launcher, gradually building up another charge. While he builds the charge, he starts circling around the whole room, even flying over the Exhuman just to confuse him.
His hope was to be able to fire the plasma orb in a position where the Exhuman wouldn't be able to see him, and thus he wouldn't be able to evade it. He just needed to time it perfectly, but if he could, he could finally win.
Meditat's speed increases as he flies all around the hall, making it harder to pinpoint his location. His plasma orb becomes larger as he charges it more, making sure that even if he missed, the area of effect would be wide enough to knock the Exhuman.
His eyes stay on the Exhuman, using his left arm to pull himself while letting his right arm charge the shot, and then using his boots and chest to boost himself faster.
The Exhuman looks around as he sees that his opponent was too fast, leaving him vulnerable to attack. He steps back as he watches the blur in front of him, and takes a deep breath, rolling his shoulders again. He had to act fast, or he'd be surely defeated.
He closes his eyes, and as Meditat flies around the room, his body begins to glitch again, however it stays in place and doesn't change opacity. What does happen however is that his body seems to start vanishing and reappearing in the same place quickly, as though he was glitching in place.
Suddenly, the same man in the white suit appears beside himself, making two of the same person, as if they were multiplying.
Meditat looks at the Exhuman and notices the event, causing him to begin to worry. He watches as more duplicates of the man appear, from two to four to six to twelve, with more and more increasingly appearing, as though there was no limit.
Soon, the whole stage becomes full of clones of the man, and a group of them walk back towards the instruments to pick them up, as it seems that was how he was taking the instruments even while paying attention to the fight.
However, there weren't just enough duplicates for one to take each instrument, instead there were far more, as it seems the Exhuman was continuing to duplicate himself more and more.
The horde of white suited men standing on the stage not in charge of taking an instrument all turned towards where Meditat was, as while he was moving quickly, the blur was still visible.
They then all begin chasing towards Meditat, jumping off the stage and running down the hall. Tens of men run at Meditat with more reinforcing them, so much so that Meditat wasn't sure where the original Exhuman was, if there was one anymore.
If he was going off of his original profile that he made for the man, it seemed his presence manipulation expanded far more than he initially thought, as it seemed he was able to recreate himself within the same space multiple times.
If that was right, then there was a chance that every clone had the capacity to take Meditat on.
However, he notices that none of them were flying or teleporting, meaning they seemed to not be able to access their abilities, making the fight slightly easier. That said, Meditat had gone into a fight one on one, and ended up being left to battle an army.
The best Meditat could do was try to use his plasma charges to take them all down, however it seemed more was being made with every passing second.
Meditat finally reveals himself, stopping in the center of the room while in the air, and he fires his massive charge of plasma energy. The orb flies into the horde of men, and explodes, successfully blasting a large number of the clones away, as it seemed more than ten of them were thrown in different directions.
Meditat sighs to himself with the relief that he was able to strike his targets, but that relief quickly dies when he finds himself staring down even more men than he initially shot at, as the mob was still forming and chasing him.
Meditat pulls his right arm back to ready another charge, trying to keep distance from the mob, however there seemed to be possibly a hundred of them now, if not more.
The horde chases Meditat, however they were confined to the ground while Meditat was able to remain in the air, which gave Meditat an advantage.
Meditat was proven wrong to think that advantage would help him however, as he watches the horde begin to start piling on each other, using each other to climb higher towards him. It was a horrifying site, watching hundreds of the same man start over one another, with the hope that at least one could take Meditat down.
Due to the immense amount of clones there were, the pile quickly becomes tall, and Meditat already finds them getting closer to his level faster and faster, with seemingly not enough time to charge a great enough plasma charge to deal sufficient damage.
However, he didn't have the time, and so Meditat fires another charge at the top of the pile, blasting away the top chunk of clones, making their bodies fly off and to the floor.
Even then, there was no break, as more clones started climbing from what was left of the pile, causing Meditat to boost backwards, making more distance from the stage and mob in order to buy himself more space and hopefully time to build another charge.
The mob continues chasing Meditat, with hundreds of white-suited men running at him like mindless zombies, soon covering the whole floor with an infinite horde.
Meditat pulls his arm back, trying to build up a charge, but the piling horde quickly gets to him, causing him to have to fire his charge anyways, before it could gain enough power to deal hardly any damage.
The result of the small plasma ball's blast was only a few clones being knocked off, which creates hardly any difference, as the pushback he makes is quickly made up for within seconds.
Meditat watches as the clones climb towards him at rapid speeds, noticing that he didn't have much room left behind him. He watches as the pile of clones approaches him, and realizes he didn't have enough time to build up any charge.
Instead, he boosts upwards, and very narrowly dodges three clones who all dive for his legs, trying to tackle him.
He aims his left hand up to pull himself, however he realizes that his hand was pointing to the black sky without any point to attach to, and so all he could do was thrust his chest forwards for another boost.
Due to the fact that he was limited to one arm for maneuverability, he couldn't easily catapult himself, which severely limited his movement options. He boosts upwards again, trying to get as much height as he could.
He continuously boosts upwards, although continual boosts without pulls are more draining to his stamina, and so it slowly tires him. He fights on regardless, and finally reaches the top of the concert hall.
With nowhere else to go, Meditat takes a deep breath, and he pulls his arm back, gradually building up another charge as plasma streams start to collect to create an orb.
His body begins to fall down, and he faces the ground below, his blue eyes glowing softly as he stares at his fate.
The entire ground of the concert hall was full of clones in white suits, with the whole floor being constantly raised as more clones piled over each other, trying to jump at Meditat.
He wasn't sure what there was left to do, the cloning had gotten so bad that he wasn't sure if there was any way to win, but he couldn't just retreat from battle. So he continues to fall towards the sea of clones, charging up his plasma orb, giving his all.
The orb grows larger than any of the earlier times as he focuses all the power he had left in him for one more charge, hoping to at least leave some damage even if there was no winning this fight.
Meditat closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath. He then opens them, and with the remainder of the fight in him, he pulls his arm farther back, prepared to throw it forward and fire the orb. He stares into the eyes of one of the clones who had managed to get to the top of the pile, only a few feet below, trying to leap and grab at him, his white clothes dirtied from the piling.
Just before the clone could grab Meditat, just before Meditat could fire his orb, the clone vanished right in front of Meditat's eyes, glitching out before disappearing.
Meditat watches as all of the clones piling on the floor vanish, glitching out of existence, until the room becomes empty of clones completely in the matter of seconds.
In nearly an instant, the room goes from being completely filled with an ocean of clones to being devoid of any life except for Meditat, who still continues descending, his plasma orb ready.
Meditat blinks, and the launcher stops firing plasma streams to fuel the orb, letting it die out.
Meditat uses his left hand to pull himself towards the stage, throwing himself onto the wooden floor and rolling on the ground before being able to throw himself back to his feet. He staggers forward, drained from the fighting.
His right gauntlet's black armor begins to retract as the launcher's plates collapse out on his arm, and the rest of the armor on his gloves and arm crawls back to where the black band on his gauntlet was.
While it does, Meditat walks over to where the instruments were, and finds that all of them were gone, as it seemed the Exhuman managed to steal them all amidst the chaos. All of the work he put in, and in the end, he still lost.
Meditat falls to his knees as the remainder of the black armor returns to the band, returning his gauntlet to the way it was before.
He stares in silence at the chairs where the instruments were left before, and he pants heavily, tired out from the intense battle. Even with the addition of his new weapon, he was still unable to defeat the Exhumans, because even with a way to fight he was still overwhelmed quickly.
He thought he perfected the suit for combat, and in his first try, he was shown otherwise.
Despite his best efforts, he still hadn't been able to defeat a single Exhuman.