Rohan's eyes suddenly begin blazing with blue energy, and only a moment later his whole body is inflamed with powerful blue energy that covers all his skin and clothing. His new skin gives off blue flames, and at the same time, blue streams of energy begin coming out of his left shoulder joint, intertwining with each other as they begin to form a new arm.
The thick streams bend to create both the upper arm and the forearm before finally creating the blue fist, making Meditat's body whole again.
Meditat brings his newly made left hand forward, and he looks at it, seeing the powerful energy radiating from him. He looks back up, his eyes able to see the colossal brain and spinal cord from afar, knowing his target.
He brings both of his arms together to create a cross with his forearms, charging his body up. His whole body lights up with greater blue flames, and he throws his arms to his side, releasing a massive wave of energy that shockwaves out of his body in all directions, as he reaches deeply into his mind's energy well and uses all he can to retake his mind back.
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Orial lowers his head, and looks at the orange armored knee of Cratus while he lays on the dirt ground inside the forest. He brings his left hand up, and holds his arms out, fighting against the pressure being put down on the abdomen.
He seems to be trying to bend his back up while slowly moving both of his hands forwards, getting them closer to Cratus's knee as he prepares for his move.
Cratus tilts his head as he notices Orial's movements, as it seems he's once again trying to struggle for freedom. He growls, and tries to press harder down on the suit to crush through the armor plating, deciding he's had enough time enjoying himself.
However, before he is able to do that, Orial immediately grabs onto Cratus's knee with both white and blue hands, gripping onto it tightly as both of his forearms flash blue.
He then, with all the strength he can pull from the suit, lifts Cratus's knee off of his body and throws Cratus overhead with a boosted throw.
Cratus's body flies backwards as he roars loudly in confusion, and he crashes into the ground behind Orial, which causes the part of the forest under his body to sink down with cracks forming below him.
An explosion of brown dust erupts as his legs fly up after having been tossed, and in that time Orial pulls himself back up to his feet, grabbing the ground to support himself with the right hand.
He grips the soil in a crouch position first, his blue goggles blazing as he glares through the thick dust. While he does have a significantly noticeable dent on the abdomen, as the shape of Cratus's foot was embedded into it, he still stands and has the strength to fight back.
Even if he couldn't use the armored fists, he had to find a way to keep fighting, he had to think outside the box just like Meditat always would.
He needed to get creative to defeat the orange beast.
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Meditat, flaming with blue energy more than ever before after having sent the wave, holds his right arm back and makes a claw with his hand. He lowers his head, and brings his arm up and in front of where he's facing, to which his fingers seem to puncture an invisible surface in front of his feet, similar to a wall.
The surface appears to be a light translucent film similar to the surface of a bubble with a blue hue. It mostly just appears near Meditat, seeming to be more intense closer to his fingers, while leaving a trail of blue streaks where his fingers were.
Meditat, while using the grip he has on this new wall, pulls his body forward. Both of his feet plant on the bubble surface, which slows down his slide significantly, as he seems to be sliding straight down on a wall directed the way he is falling. However, as he slows down, it's as though his own reaction to gravity is changed, as he's able to orient himself in the reversal of the rotation that the world had endured.
He comes to a stop on top of the bubble wall, which to him is now a floor. That floor seems to hover parallel to the streets and city below, as though the world had fixed itself, with the true ground below him and the cities once again upright.
Now in control of his mind, Meditat's blue eyes stare at the direction of the colossal brain in the distance, finally having a feasible way of getting to it.
Meditat digs his right foot into the surface, causing it to bend under his toes. Blue lightning starts coming off of his feet and curving behind him, similar to the arcs from his cannons' streams, yet thicker and seemingly more intense.
He then pushes off of the ground, as he seems to make a sprint, running up the city. Flames of energy rush behind him as large arcs of the blue lightning trail from his back, initially coming off his feet but soon out of the back of his torso and arms too.
He runs in the air, and every time his foot is brought down to the surface, the bubble film appears below his feet, as though the ground reacts to his presence. His arms swing back and forth with lightning coming off his hands as he runs faster with every stride, passing buildings in seconds as the colossal brain gets larger in his perspective, meaning he's getting ever closer.
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Orial leaps off of the ground, jumping towards Cratus, whose leg is thrown up after having been thrown. He lets out a groan in pain as he attempts to recover, but he's interrupted as Orial stands in front of him, and promptly grabs onto Cratus's leg with both arms, holding it up to prevent him from moving.
Orial's glowing blue eyes stare down at Cratus as he tightly grips the leg, keeping Cratus on the ground without being able to get up. While he doesn't have his armored fists anymore, he seems to adopt an approach more akin to wrestling, using the weight of his body and the forces he can acquire with boosts to keep Cratus down and buy more time.
Cratus looks up at Orial, growing through gritted teeth, as he can't move his right leg. He then looks down at the abdomen, seeing that while there's a noticeable dent, he failed to puncture through and kill Meditat.
He looks back up at Orial's goggles with intense hatred, not wanting to let himself lose to a robot. He feels his left leg, which sits on the ground below him, resting on the dark grass of the forest.
Cratus then attempts to strike Orial from behind, lifting his left leg up and attempting to kick Orial's back to take off his balance, which would hopefully let him regain his own.
Orial senses the counter while holding onto Cratus's leg, to which he immediately lets go and boosts backwards with his hands and the front of his chest.
Cratus's left leg lifts up beside his right leg, with both of his legs up after failing the kick. He lowers his eyes to see that Orial has moved before he could hit him, but at least he got Orial off.
However, before he can get back up or even move again, Orial notices and seizes a perfect opportunity after analyzing both of Cratus's lifted legs.
Orial dashes forward, returning straight to Cratus. He then grabs both of Cratus's lifted knees, holding him again with now more control over his body.
Cratus grunts in confusion at the sudden grab, but before he can think of a way to free himself he's lifted straight off of the ground, as Orial lifts his body up, using boosts to heave Cratus's whole body.
Orial turns around as his blue goggles blaze, and with both of his arms behind his shoulders lifting a puzzled Cratus in the air, Orial slams Cratus's body back to the ground in front of him, this time slamming him face first into the earth.
Orial's shoulders boost to amplify his strength and bring a greater impact to the slam, as the contact Cratus makes with the ground causes an even greater crater to be made, with walls of hard dirt protruding from the ground around the crater.
The slam then triggers a shockwave of brown dust that erupts and spreads through a large portion of the forest, forcing the leaves to blow back and rustle loudly.
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Meditat continues sprinting up the city, getting noticeably closer to the colossal brain by the building he was earlier. He speeds himself up with a thicker trail of blue fire emerging from behind him and larger lightning bolts being released from his body.
As he approaches the brain, giant branches start to protrude from the titanic spinal cord, seeming to emerge quickly in reaction to the approaching warrior. Tens of branches stick out of various points, and they all bend towards Meditat's direction.
They then all fly at him with high speeds in an attempt to foil his plans, trying to halt his run with a barrage flying straight at Meditat.
Meditat notices the branches, and he continues running, if anything moving faster without hesitation. As one of the branches going straight for his body nears him, he leaps off of the bubble surface, and lands on the pink branch, using that as his next surface as he continues to run.
The branch starts bending with waves coming from the cord in an attempt to thwart him, as all of the branches start waving too to make it harder for him to move.
Meditat accepts the challenge, and he leaps off of the branch just before the wave consumes him. He flies up a few feet in the air before reaching another branch above him, which he lands on and uses to continue running, seeing the next wave coming from the distance moving fast.
Before the wave gets to him he leaps off the branch again, moving to the branch above him and to his right. However, he doesn't seem to be able to get up to it due to the height of the branch relative to him, and so instead he grabs onto the branch with his arm. He spins his whole body around the branch to gain more momentum before throwing himself off and forwards, still moving quickly towards the brain.
He throws himself towards the left side as well, approaching another branch, which he grabs with his full left hand. He throws his body forward again, as though swinging off the branches, and lands on another before continuing to run.
He continues this down the long distance of city blocks, leaving a thick trail of energy as he leaps and runs, swings and dashes while more branches fly towards him to push him off, only then being used again to move.
Meditat moves towards the top branch, throwing his body up by swinging off each branch he can get to, alternating sides and flipping in the air to reach farther. He finally gets onto the highest branch, and he continues running ahead as another wave approaches him on the top branch.
This time however, he doesn't run away, but instead he lets the wave reach him. He boosts his speed as he then runs up the wave, using it as a ramp despite its hostile intentions, and flies into the air with the momentum he acquires from the ramp. His body flies up at an angle until, arching in the air as he moves closer to the colossal brain not too far ahead of him now. The path is tiny in comparison to the brain however, as the cord and brain are still intimidatingly large to take.
As Meditat flies in the air, he brings his arms up and crosses them, as though bracing himself similar to how he did when crashing the window. He lowers his head as his whole body begins radiating more energy, and arcs of lightning coil around his body to charge him up.
He then throws his arms to the side as another great explosion of blue energy projects off his body, however this time it doesn't taper like the last. Oddly as well, the radius seems to be abnormal, as the explosion covers more below him than above. In fact, the thick energy reaches the ground below, and the explosion itself mimics the shape of Meditat's body due to how it was perfectly projected off it.
The wave of energy from the explosion doesn't disperse, but instead it thickens and solidifies, transforming Meditat from human sized into a massive titanic being. The energy that creates the shape of his body seems to manifest into himself, allowing him to stand taller than skyscrapers, with his ginormous body crushing buildings beside it.
He continues to run forwards, with every step shaking the whole city, no longer seeming to have the trail as he surrounds himself with all his energy.
The great titan charges towards the brain and spinal cord, with his head being at the same level as the colossal brain. He brings his arms out as he prepares to grab at the brain, with his body easily crushing all the branches in his way that he runs into without hindrance.
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As Cratus lays on the ground, groaning in pain from the hard slam, Orial jumps on top of his back, with blue energy coming from the back of his whole body. He bodies Cratus, and the second slam causes the ground to sink even more beneath them, with more cracks being made around the crater.
Orial drops his left forearm on Cratus's upper back, just below his neck, forcing him to stay on the ground. He then continuously boosts the arm down to apply pressure on him, now making him unable to get up. His blue goggles flare as he then presses his right open hand on Cratus's back, and boosts his arm down to add more pressure, further preventing movement.
Cratus growls as his face is being driven into the dirt, which starts covering his yellow eyes. He feels his body gradually sinking deeper into the ground, as he now has no control over the situation.
Desperate to regain control, he bends and raises his arms, keeping both of his open hands facing the ground. He then lets out a roar of rage, and slams the two hands into the ground, using it to then push his whole body up to throw Orial off.
The push causes crates under his hands, but he does manage to lift his body back up, his feet once more on the ground.
Orial feels Cratus's attempt to wrestle back, to which he improvises again. He wraps his arms around Cratus's throat to put him in a chokehold and keep himself on the orange beast, seeing him try to move and throw Orial off again.
Cratus grunts as he feels the chokehold, and he continues to stagger back. He takes steps back towards a tree, stumbling to gain control, as dirt still slides down his eyes which makes it harder for him to see.
However, he senses the tree behind him, to which he gets an idea. He begins walking backwards, trying to keep himself stable as he approaches the tree.
While Orial grips onto Cratus, he notices the peculiar movements. He then turns around to see where Cratus is headed, to which he sees the large tree right in front of him, which doesn't seem coincidental.
Cratus takes a deep breath through gritted teeth, and he roars loudly before running backwards and slamming his back into the tree as hard as he can.
The slam causes Orial to get squished between him and the tree, which causes the entire tree's stem to crack before the whole tree explodes with shards of bark flying from the overwhelming shock caused by the impact.
All of that force passes through Orial, causing him too to groan, as though the reaction made him give a verbal sign of pain. Knowing that the strike would damage Meditat's body again almost gives him a connection that makes the damage to the suit give him the sense of being damaged.
It seems that Cratus is slowly regaining his control again, using the environment against Orial.
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As Meditat charges towards the brain, he tries to grab at it in hopes to destroy it with his colossal hands. Every step shakes the city as every step destroys more buildings, but knowing that none of it is real relieves him from concern.
However, in retaliation multiple massive branches begin emerging from the spinal cord, not as large as Meditat's arm but impressively large nonetheless as they seem to be the largest conjured by the spinal cord. The many branches then all attach Meditat's arms, and they start wrapping and coiling around him similar to the branches that brought him into the building.
As more branches wrap around Meditat's forearms, it slows his movements, as he's unable to move his arms as quickly since he isn't able to as freely. He stops in front of the brain, close enough to destroy it, but now not able to grab it.
Meditat struggles with all the strength he has, trying to drive his arms forward as more coils constrict his movement. Even then he keeps trying, as his arms slowly continue moving forwards against the will of the branches.
More giant branches fly out of the cord, and they pierce his abdomen, as if trying to kill him before he can kill it. Multiple branches stab through him, as a wire composed of several intertwining branches all fly and plunge into his chest where his heart would be.
The spinal cord continues producing branches that stab into Meditat's body, slowing him down and tiring him out.
He groans from all the pain he feels throughout the body as he feels more branches penetrate his legs, as the brain seems to truly be fighting back, making it hard for him to make the last move.
However, he doesn't relinquish his goals, as he slowly moves his arms forward, fighting against the thick levels of coils around his forearms. He brings both of his hands towards the sides of the brain, summoning all his strength and determination as he pushes on through the harsh stakes.
His body slides through the branches as he continues moving forward, which causes agonizing pain, but he still tries to ignore it and keep fighting. He slowly moves his hands to the side of the brain, fighting against the coils that hold him back.
He pulls more strength out of himself as blue flames start emerging from his arms and blue lightning starts wrapping around him, running up to his fingers to give him power.
In a final move with all the strength he has, Meditat jerks his hands forward, clamping onto both sides of the brains with each of his hands. His blue fingers sink into the brain, giving him the grip he needs, as blue bolts of lightning run up to his finger tips and enter the brain, causing it to lightly illuminate blue from within.
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Cratus staggers forward after the slam, slowly gaining more dominance over the fight. The remains of the tree fall behind them, with branches plummeting to the ground.
However even with such a heavy strike, Orial's arms are still wrapped around Cratus's throat, adamant about keeping his back. His blue eyes glare back at Cratus after the counter, and to retake control, he wraps his legs around Cratus's waist, further attaching his body onto Cratus.
The added weight causes Cratus to begin stumbling backwards again, as it seems the strike wasn't enough to knock Orial off.
Orial faces the soles of the black boots forward, and to counter, he boosts off of them. The boost blasts himself backwards, but since he's gripping onto Cratus, it also drags him back with him.
The force of the unexpected boost causes Cratus to lose his footing, and he falls backwards again. The both of them fall on the ground right in front of another tree, with Orial on the ground, seemingly squished by Cratus.
However even with the unfortunate position, Orial still puts his best effort, keeping his tight hold on Cratus. He keeps his chokehold and tries to tighten it more, hoping to render Cratus unconscious, or at least keep him down for longer.
Even with him on the ground, he now once more has regained control over the situation. Even if he is only buying more time, that's more than enough, as now he can hold Cratus down for as long as necessary.
His blue eyes glare behind Cratus's yellow eyes as he continues tightening the hold, causing him to groan in pain while struggling to get back up.
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With Meditat's fingers stuck to each side of the brain, Meditat begins pulling wide, as though trying to rip the brain apart from the middle. The coils still try to hold him back, although they seem to be unable to hold him, it seems that their effectiveness weakens as Meditat moves his arms farther away.
Both halves of the brain start to move, being pulled apart by Meditat, slowly but surely.
As the split starts to be made, both yellow and red bolts of electricity seem to run between each half, with yellow bolts coming from the right half of the brain and red bolts coming from the left half. Their connection destabilizes the more distance is made between each half, a few nerves stay bridging each side, but they slowly start to snap in half.
Meditat pulls harder as his arms resist the coils more, and he sinks his fingers deeper into the brains to gain more grip on them.
The brain continues to split apart as only one nerve is left bridging the two. Red and yellow bolts fire from each half more intensely as though desperately trying to maintain control, however it's too late, as that control is being ripped from them.
Meditat lowers his head as he fills himself with will and determination, remembering what he's fighting for. He wants to get back home, he wants to get back to his body, he wants to get back to the mission. He wants to face the rest of the Babylonians and defeat them, and he wants to bring that long abandoned case to a final satisfying conclusion.
Reinforced with his burning desire, Meditat gets the last burst of strength needed to rip both halves of the brain separate from one another, ripping the last connecting nerve in half. The bolts between the brains fire off for the last time, with one more red bolt sparking before the resistance stops.
From the separation of the brain, the entire spinal cord suddenly disintegrates into seemingly ash, along with all of the branches coming off it. The coils around Meditat turn to a sandy material before sliding off his body, and the branches that penetrate the surrounding skyscrapers also seem to vanish into pink dust, which slides down on the ground.
The titanic spinal cord was destroyed, and the colossal brain was separated.
Immediately in that moment of separation, Meditat feels his head filled with a sudden influx of thoughts that aren't his own, and he hears two different voices speaking through him at the same time in what sounds like hasty concern.
At the same time, both of the halves of the brain now glow blue from the inside from all the blue lightning constantly entering through the fingers, giving the brain constant pulses of energy inside that dominate it.
Meditat's body stops moving as he stares at the two halves, hearing the voices in his head, which shout at one another while ideas rush into his mind.
The voices become distinct, and Meditat quickly recognizes them to be both that of Ari and Ara, as it seems that in separating the brain, he was able to connect to them. Not just that, but he realizes that all the flooding he feels is their minds being under his control, as now that he took over his own dream, it seemed that he had reversed the effects of their powers.
Now rather than them invading his mind, he was able to invade theirs.
Meditat continues taking the non stop flood of voices, acknowledging that he didn't only crumble the bridge they had to him, but he had established one of his own back to them. His own energy deeply rooted within him was enough to completely overwhelm them to the point of flipping their control to him.
His overpowering energy greater than that of any Exhuman was too much for them to handle, and the control was given to him.
Now with the bridge set up, he realizes that he could very well end the fight by shutting their consciousness down thus rendering them unconscious. However, at the same time he's unsure of pulling off such a complex feat, since he himself doesn't know how to work with someone else's brain.
He then begins to start feeling another presence over him, one even greater than the two. It's the warm presence of his body, calling to him, as in breaking their control he seems to be capable of returning back to consciousness. Finally he was liberated from the nightmare, and he could leave.
He can feel his body again, feeling it tensely grip onto Cratus, as he can feel the ground under him. It is Orial fighting, trying his hardest to protect Rohan's body. Finally Orial's long fight could be paid off, as Meditat could return back home to his world and to his real life.
The nightmare world suddenly pauses, as the wind completely stops, as though time was put on hold. Silence follows, and standing in the dark city under the void, Meditat's blazing blue body starts to evaporate, turning into blue mist that rises into the atmosphere before vanishing.
Meditat turns his head up as he looks deep into the void, ready to return. His hands vanish, yet the brain stays floating in the air due to the time pause. The top of his head becomes mist and rises into the air as the rest of his body evaporates, rising up into the dark void above, entering through the breach.
The two halves of the brain remain in the city as the blue mist rises above before vanishing, as Meditat successfully exits the nightmare, returning to reality.
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Orial struggles to hold Cratus, feeling him try to move and shuffle. He keeps his hold tight, but knows that he couldn't hold it forever, for eventually Cratus would break free.
His body slides side to side as Cratus tries his hardest to move, making it harder for Orial to hold on, as he groans tiredly knowing that he was still at a deep disadvantage without the armored fists.
Without them, he didn't have a true way to defeat him.
As Orial tries to keep holding Cratus, waiting for the inevitable turn of events, he stares into the dark void above, hoping that he was doing Meditat justice, trying his best to honor his spirit and keep persevering against all odds.
Maybe he'd never return, and if that were to happen, Orial wasn't sure what he was going to do. Meditat created him, and thus Orial's existence was for him. He existed to help him, and in a way having that dynamic stripped of him didn't feel liberating but if anything it felt entrapping.
A life without Meditat felt like a life without purpose, and that would be an artificial life that he was unsure if he'd want to live.
While he contains to keep Cratus in his hold, wondering what he was to do, he hears a familiar voice speak through the suit's Link system, the voice of his friend greet him with: "Hey Orial, are you hanging in there?"
Orial finds himself shocked in pleasant surprise, immediately responding back through Meditat's mind, as it seems to have been awakened after having been in deep sleep for what felt like so long.
He answers overjoyed, "You returned! I was worried that you wouldn't!"
Meditat lets out a soft chuckle, and he thinks in response, "Well, I wouldn't leave the whole mission to you now, that would be putting too much weight too quickly. But you seem to be doing just fine right now."
Orial sighs in relief, and he explains, "I've been trying to keep your body from being destroyed, I've been able to buy some time but the armored fists are broken so I cannot defeat Cratus. I apologize for the inconvenience, I was trying my best…."
Meditat questions with a pleasantly surprised voice, "You mean you took on the strongest Babylonian on your own with no prior training and you managed to last this long? What are you apologizing for, I was expecting at least one limb to be torn off."
Orial lets out a relieved chuckle, and he responds, "Well, I wasn't too far from that happening."
Meditat sighs, and he pitches, "Okay, I think I have an idea. It looks like we each have our own issues finishing the job, you don't have a weapon on you that can take down Sriya, and I have problems of my own. I was stuck in some weird dream state from Ara and Ari, I managed to free myself by taking control over the state, and in doing so I created a bridge to their minds similar to the one they had to me. I think that bridge can be used to put both of them unconscious since it gives total access to their minds, however the issue is that's not my area of expertise. But you've been swimming in my mind for months now, you know how to traverse someone's mind, and I remember you were even able to break me out of nightmares so you're good at triggering reactions to the brain. Since you're talking through my brain right now that means you have full access to my mind, which means you should also be able to access the bridge I set up. Go through that bridge and take down the two, and while you do that I'll finish your job and put Sriya to sleep. Sounds like a plan?"
Orial answers excitedly, "That sounds perfect, I'll begin now. Good luck, Meditat. It's good to have you back."
Meditat smiles behind the mask, and he responds, "It's good to hear your voice again too."
Orial releases control of the suit, knowing now that the original host is back and can harness his own equipment again. He travels deep into Meditat's mind, and quickly picks up on the surge of energy, which flows like a mystic bridge into another conscious, likely that of Ara and Ari.
Orial takes the bridge, and he flies through the mental void, exiting reality and entering the dream world that Meditat had been cursed to suffer in.
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Below the dark void of the black clouds, the city resides below, the tall skyscrapers making up the urban centers of the northern region. A roar of thunder cracks in the sky, and a flash of lightning is visible within the thick clouds.
Below those clouds, two beings hover over one of the skyscrapers, seeming to be suspended in the air.
Those two beings are Peitho and Medea, who both wear their suits with the pink metallic skeleton and their unique masks. They hover beside each other, looking ahead to see that the massive being meant to be Meditat was gone, and ever since he left they have been unable to move or control the dream.
They just each hover inside where the colossal halves of the brain were, for while Meditat saw a brain, it was an effect created by the two to mask their own presence. Still, it seemed that it didn't exactly work, as in the end Meditat still defeated them and got away, presumably back to his body.
Medea lets out a deep sigh of disappointment, and in his artificially tuned high pitched voice, he complains, "Well...that wasn't part of the plan, right?"
Peitho responds in his artificially tuned low pitched voice, monotonously responding, "No...no it wasn't. And it seemed like it went worse than imagined, it appears Rohan has somehow flipped our own control against ourselves. We're stuck in this limbo with no way out since he's the one now in control of the dream, with us being nothing but prisoners. And it looks like he's gone too, so I'm not sure what's supposed to happen."
Medea tilts his head in confusion, and he turns to Peitho before asking, "Wait, he did what?? But...how? That doesn't make any sense, that's never happened before...that isn't supposed to be possible. How in the world could he reverse our control like that, I mean that's not part of his powers?!"
Peitho sighs softly, and he answers, "Well, I'm not entirely sure, you're right, it's never happened before. But when he tore us apart...I felt a surge of energy in my brain that I've never felt before. It was similar to what I've always felt as an Exhuman, the power flooding through my brain, but this felt like that over tenfold. It was...overwhelming to say the least...honestly I figured all Exhumans have the same level of energy within them since all of us do. But after feeling what he had, either I was wrong about that, or I failed to properly assess the enemy. That power that he has within him, it was more than anything I could imagine. Something beyond anything I could imagine."
Medea lowers his head, and he sighs again. He quietly whimpers, "So we just stay here until what?"
Peitho raises his head up and looks at the dark void above, trying to think over that question. He answers with his best response, "He likely doesn't even know what to do with that control, it's us who specialize in manipulating brains anyways, not him. So there's a good chance that he'll likely accidentally let go anyways, and we'll be able to wake up again. Just wait a bit."
However, while the two wait as Peitho advised, they suddenly hear a loud voice speak, one that shakes the world from its overwhelming presence.
It's a voice they've never heard before, male with a heavy British accent, whose voice seems to surround them, as though coming from all directions at once.
The voice speaks, "I think you're being overly optimistic in that estimation. Maybe he doesn't know what to do with it, but I do. I'm guessing you are his friends, or were his friends, and this is the pit that you dragged him into."
Medea's eyes widen, and he looks up in fear, confused and terrified of the new voice. He shouts in response, "Wait, who are you? Where are you? What are you??"
Peitho silently stares, also intrigued by the new presence, trying to keep his cool as best as he can while he tries to recognize the voice, although nothing comes up.
The voice responds, "Anyways, this is quite the lazy waste of a domain you've created. With such interesting abilities from such amazing minds of Rohan's friends, I would've expected something more...creative. Here, I'll show you where I am, but first, I'd rather change the setting if that's fine with you."
Before either of them could respond, they watch in horror as the dark city they're in, with the bleak black clouds above and the skyscrapers around them suddenly vanish in an instant.
In immediate replacement, they find themselves in what appears to be the void of space, surrounded by great purple and blue cosmic gases in the far distance, with shining lights of stars. There don't appear to be any planets such as Earths around, as in fact there doesn't appear to be anything close to them.
They still hover, suspended in the space, able to breathe as it seems that the new setting doesn't hinder their ability to function. Then again, they still can't move, which feels worse than before, as now they find themselves farther away from anything close to home than ever before, trapped in a true void.
The space is completely silent as nothing seems to move, as all the two can watch are the great cosmic nebulas and stars around them, trying to make sense of their surroundings.
Peitho observes the space to see darker patches of space, however most of it is covered by vibrant nebulae, as he doesn't have the slightest idea how far he is from the solar system, or if he's even in the same plane of existence as home.
Medea turns his head in front, and he gasps with wide eyes in instant horror. The reaction is enough to alert Peitho, who turns his head to the direction Medea's facing, and his eyes immediately widen as well.
In front of the two of them is a collection of blue stars, however they're far closer together than any others. The stars seem to move like particles, joining together and creating shapes, with such limitless quantities that make the shapes a solid blue.
The shapes become larger and more intricate as multiple connect to each other, and as more stars connect to the shape, it creates a construct similar to a humanoid body. The body is extremely massive however, far larger than even the titanic Meditat, as this one seems to be larger than multiple Earths combined, even larger than the Supersun itself.
The body becomes solid as its head stares down at the two, seeming to be distant yet uncomfortably close, as all the two can see in front of them is the colossal body of the cosmic giant.
The giant looks down on them, and he speaks in the same British voice, "To you, this is what I am. Something far beyond your comprehension, far beyond your god complexes. You likely realize now that you've already lost, and now you will repent for the atrocities you brought on Rohan, your own friend. But don't concern yourselves too much, I am not savages like you, I do not find joy from seeing others in pain. So I will give you the gift you do not deserve, a painless and quick defeat."
The giant then slowly lifts his right hand, raising his whole arm. He points his finger forwards, and seems to tap the space in front of him.
To both Peitho's and Medea's surprise, as the blue giant's finger glides across the space, massive sparks of blue energy begin to come out, and it seems as though he's melting the fabrics of space with his one finger. The giant presses the finger farther, which causes the sparks to intensity, as a bright blue light comes from his fingertip.
He then slowly begins to move his arm in a circle, keeping his finger pointed up. As he moves his finger, it seems to melt into the fabric of space, leaving behind a bright blue trail larger than anything the two can imagine.
Medea desperately tries to move, however he's suspended in place, and thus can't escape. Peitho just stares in silence as he watches the giant carve out a circle in space, leaving a glowing blue circle burnt into the canvas.
The giant finally brings his finger all around and back to where he began, finishing the circle. Right as he finishes, the area within the circle immediately changes into a complete pitch black void, with not even a speck of light inside.
The giant then raises his hand again, and he lightly nudges the back of the circle, causing it to slowly move towards the two, causing it to become even larger the closer it gets.
The circle appears to be a massive black hole, moving gradually towards the two in order to consume them. The giant just watches in silence as the black hole is hurtled towards them, watching as they hover helplessly.
Medea turns back to face the black hole, unable to find a solution to escape. He and Peitho both stare in silence as the black hole approaches them until it's all they can see, covering the other cosmic nebulas and stars.
The black hole consumes the both of them, flying past them and turning everything into complete blackness. As they become unable to see anything, both of them fall asleep, being rendered unconscious from the intensity of the shutdown.
As the black hole passes, all becomes completely dark, a hollow void of nothingness where the nightmare world once resided, ridding it from any existence.
_____________________________________________________
Meditat feels his suit being returned to his control, as Orial seems to divert his focus onto the new mission. While he could feel his body upon reentering, now he can move it again, as he's truly back home.
Meditat keeps his left hand on Cratus's throat, however he extends his right hand out, holding it up to the sky. He stares at his blue and white glove, and quickly realizes that Orial was right that the armored fists have been destroyed, making it impossible to summon it from the suit.
However, lucky for him he had other methods of acquiring an adequate weapon that was available to him.
Meditat speaks in his artificially filtered voice through the mask, now able to access his microphone and speakers. He addresses, "Hey Sriya, before I do this, I just wanted to tell you something."
Cratus's eyes widen behind his mask in complete utter shock and horror upon hearing the familiar voice, as he instantly recognizes who is now speaking, as it isn't the A.I, but rather then original host.
He exclaims in surprise, "Wait, you're back? But...the others...I thought they were going to keep you out-.... No...the plan can't fail...you can't stop us!"
Meditat's right forearm begins to glow blue, with blue mist coming off of it as it changes colors back to the same blue. It then begins to enlarge as it seems that the extra mist starts to add more to the gauntlet, reshaping the armored fist previously destroyed. Hardened mist overlays over the fingers of his open hand, wrapping around and shaping intricately.
Finally, the mist colorizes again, revealing the larger armored fists, as the carbon fiber gloves have returned. This time however, blue streaks of energy run through the glove, with faint streaks running through each individual finger, as though powering it more than the last one.
The streaks run through the glove almost like glowing cracks, as though the destroyed glove was put back together and amplified with more strength to defeat the one who broke it.
Meditat quietly finishes his thought in an almost sentimental voice, "You're right, we were brothers. Goodbye."
He then closes his hand to a fist, causing the entire carbon fiber fist to immediately begin glowing blue, with immense energy radiating out of the streaks, as he supercharges the armored fist far beyond it's old capabilities.
The fist illuminates brightly in Cratus's eye, and he watches in silence as Meditat brings the fist down on Cratus's forehead, with nearly instant speed. The blue fist makes contact with Cratus's head, and its impact shatters part of Cratus's mask, specifically where his forehead is. Fragments of the orange stone color break off like a nearly broken mirror, with the crimson undersuit visible through the cracks.
Cratus's yellow eyes dim to darkness, as he falls deeply unconscious after the final strike. His body stops resisting, as he lays there in Meditat's arms, having finally been defeated.
Meditat takes a deep breath, and he slowly lets it out, knowing that the long battle was now that much closer to the end. He sighs softly, and his blue fist returns to the carbon fiber black.
The armored fist then breaks into smaller plates, which move under the black band of the gauntlet along with the rest of the excess plates for the gauntlet's weaponized state.
His gauntlet regresses to its standard maneuverability state, and he lets go of Cratus with his left hand. He then softly pushes Cratus off of his body, tossing him to the side to allow Meditat to get back up freely.
Meditat stands up to his feet, taking a deep breath in his own body, feeling the real air against his face as he takes it into his lungs. He slowly lets the breath out, and he turns back to Cratus, who lays on the ground beside him.
He slowly approaches Cratus's body with his arms lowered by his side, and he stands in front of him. He gently kneels down in front of his old friend and fellow teammate, staring at the dark soulless eyes behind the fractured mask.
The underbarrel of Meditat's right gauntlet forms, and it shoots out a silver disk, which Meditat grabs in his right hand. As he grips the disk tightly, the center of it glows blue, with streaks coming from the center to the edge.
His underbarrel vanishes into the gauntlet again, and he raises the EPD up, bringing it to Cratus's mask. He softly places it on the side of his head that wasn't also damaged from the prior fight, and the disk attaches onto the head.
Once the EPD attaches to Cratus's head, the blue light then turns green, indicating that it is now operational, and Cratus is being put under paralysis.
Meditat slowly puts his arm between Cratus's arm and body, and he picks Cratus off of the ground. He rests Cratus against his body, and he turns towards the Octagon in front of him. He looks up at the tall Octagon, remembering when he fell out of it at the beginning of the nightmare.
While he was glad that Cratus was still alive, he still wished that he wasn't here as his enemy. If only they could have remained allies in the rink would their story have not needed to end on such a somber note.
Meditat bends his knees, and he boosts off of the ground. He flies up the several floors, his head kept up as he tries to find the hole leading into the top floor where he crashed into. He eventually finds it at the top, with the massive hole and the shards of glass on the floor.
He slowly hovers inside the building before landing on the white floor, finding that all the hostages had escaped during the fight. He sighs in relief, glad that they were able to get to a safer position during the carnage of the different battles.
Meditat turns his head to find both of the bodies of Peitho and Medea, who lay on the ground unconscious, having been taken down by Orial like he asked. He slowly walks deeper into the lobby, and walks towards the wall beside him, where he finds Argus's body still unconscious.
Meditat gently lays Cratus's body on the floor, and once he does, his underbarrel reforms, and another EPD is shot out into his hands. He grabs the EPD, and then places it on the side of Argus's helmet, which lights up green, confirming his defeat from what felt so long ago.
He then turns towards the two twins, and he slowly walks towards them. The other underbarrel on his right gauntlet forms, and two EPDs fly out of the barrels. He catches them before stopping in front of the twins, staring down on them.
He stares at Medea, who was truly Ara, the comedic boy who always kept the mood light and fun, who always knew how to make others laugh.
He then turns to Peitho, who was truly Ari, the intellectual boy who Rohan could relate to from the hard work they put into their academic studies, someone that Rohan once saw as an equal, now an opposite.
Meditat kneels in between both of their bodies, and he places an EPD on each of their masks. The disks stick to their masks, and they light up green.
He grabs each of the bodies by the collar, and stands back up. He then walks over to the wall where Argus and Cratus are, and he places each of the bodies against the wall.
Meditat walks a few feet away from them, and he stops. He turns to face them, staring at the four friends that he was close to throughout the whole year, now defeated by his hands.
In the end, all of them were together on their side, and Meditat was alone on his.
Meditat sighs, and he turns towards the open doorway on the far side of the room, remembering it as the door that Indra ran through after Meditat defeated Argus. He isn't sure how far Indra has gotten since the fight, but hopefully all of the doors had slowed him down enough for Meditat to be able to catch up with him.
Either way, the more time he spends standing around, the more time he gives Indra time to make his heist a success and escape. He has to move now regardless of how much he'd appreciate taking a break.
Orial speaks through Meditat's ear, seeming to have returned after putting the two Babylonians to rest, "Hello, I am back. If I remember correctly, there is one more Babylonian left."
Meditat takes a deep breath, and he slowly lets it out. He nods his head while staring down the long hallway, knowing that it would lead to his final fight.
He responds, "Yep: Shuraj. Well, I guess there's no reason to wait around now, we should get going before he can complete the mission."
He then begins walking down the lobby, approaching the hallway. His arms stay by his side as his blue goggles glare under the chainmail hood. His black cape drifts from the wind coming inside the lobby from the destroyed window, and his suit emanates with blue energy.
He enters the hallway as he begins the final stage of the mission. He had fought long and hard and went through several hells to get to this point, but alas he was finally getting towards the conclusion of this long night.
Maybe after this battle, the night could end, and the void in the sky could uplift.
He would need the sunshine, for he knows that after this night, his life would never be the same again. Tonight, regardless of who wins this final fight, part of him would die forever.
Ultimately, it would be on him to decide whether that sacrifice was worth making.