Another roar of thunder rages above in the dark void that looms over the city, containing the land below in the long night. Rain continues to pour down as flashes of light emerge in the distance, the storm still bellowing.
Some of that shower is brought down onto one of the office buildings in the city, which doesn't exactly have any unique features, since it's silver and shaped as a curved rectangle. Many of the offices in the city are designed in such a way, it isn't anything exactly unique, as there's nearly countless throughout the many districts with some even in other regions out of the central area, all built uniformly.
However, one of those uniform offices, while appearing vastly normal from the exterior, has a noticeable hole in one of those walls, marking it. For inside that particular office building, the events that transpire are not protocol.
Through the hole in the wall and through many other holes in walls inside the building, the only three people in the building remain in the same room. Two of them are not genuine employees, and the only one that is lying on the ground, deceased, lying in front of his cup of spilled royx.
Standing by the deceased man is Indra, wearing his purple suit with the exception of the mask, his hair wet as he looks down at the body. His body passively sparks with yellow arcs, and he scratches the back of his head with one of his oversized dark blue gauntlets, contemplating as to how to proceed.
He softly asks to himself, "Hmm...should I go back to get the boys and finish the mission? Well...this was quite the detour wasn't it? I doubt I killed Meditat over there but honestly I'm getting a bit tired; I didn't expect a fight tonight, especially not one this long. I hope the others aren't too roughed up, Dana's already going to get mad at me for damaging the suit."
He then turns his head to one of the cubicles, asking again, however this time to someone else, "What should I do, Rohan?"
On the other side of the room, against a wall of one of the cubicles, lays Meditat, his back against the wall as he sits on the ground with his legs extended out. He lays with a heavily damaged suit: as a large dent is visible in the abdomen, the plates on the legs are melted, and only his left arm is covered in the suit, as the other is only covered by his green jacket's sleeve.
Wide holes are present in his torn up chainmail cape, with edges ripped off, and the hood lays over his exposed head, as his entire helmet has been removed, leaving his face visible.
In the center of the suit where the convergence of the streaks that cool the suit down are, a massive gaping hole is left where the emblem would've been in the center of the chest. Past the hole is no protection other than the green jacket, leaving an incredibly alarming weak point.
Meditat's eyes are barely open, in fact from afar it appears as though they're closed, but up close it's noticeable that his eyes are slightly open with soulless blue irises that give no glow.
He hasn't seen so much death since about half a year ago, and even then he's never witnessed death occurring so closely and scarily intimately. He's watched people crushed and explode, he's stared at patients who've been robbed of their life support, and he's just now witnessed a man who he knew sacrificed his life and got electrocuted slowly and painfully.
He's fought every Babylonian for what's been hours, having to complete against Vrey's perfect aim and reflexes, suffer through Ari's and Ara's nightmare, return to a beaten body and finish the job on Sriya, and he's now been fighting Shuraj for what might've even been already an hour if not more.
He knew that the mission would likely not be a short one due to the amount of opponents he'd have to face against, but he never anticipated for it to be this long and grueling. He was unsure of what time it even was, or how the night was still just as black as it started off as. He was unsure how the night could've been this long, as he's been fighting through all of it, for this mission wasn't even his first one of the night.
He had to go through Dana and get nearly beaten to death just to obtain the information for this final mission, and after everything that's happened, this one night has felt like years.
Just earlier in the same night, Meditat was horrified by the illusion of two dead people at the start of the nightmare, and now he's seen so much death that it nearly numbed him. It's no understatement that this has been a long night, the longest night Meditat has ever had to live.
Indra tilts his head upon noticing Meditat's lack of a response, and he lightly remarks, "Oh, you're not already dead, right? I really hope you aren't, I wasn't even trying to kill you there. You know, I should take this time to thank you for what you did in the elevator actually, it sort of helped to thicken the lines so I know who's the bad guy. It makes it easier to put you down after we've been so close for so long, so thanks. I really hope you're the last of this wave, I can't deal with another you, this one is more than enough. You know what I mean?"
Alas, Meditat begins to move, possibly in response to Indra's next attempt to speak to him. He first lifts up his right arm, and uses the wrist to wipe his mouth before placing his arm back down, which is now stained with the crimson blood Meditat bled from the beatings he endured from Indra.
Meditat then bends his arms and plants his hands on the ground, and uses it to push his body off the ground. He throws himself up before immediately stumbling backwards into the cubicle wall again, but if anything it helps him regain his stability.
His head is lowered, and due to his hood, his eyes aren't visible to Indra. His body, while standing up now on his feet, isn't straight either, as he stands with a lazy and exhausted hunch. His arms stay by his side, his hands open loosely.
Meditat then slowly begins to groggily approach Indra, his left foot making whole steps while his right foot simply is dragged behind against the floor. He hardly seems alive at all, as he has no spirit, his chest not even seeming to glow while the streaks around his body glow dimly, hardly illuminating the suit.
As Meditat approaches Indra silently, Indra comments, still in a light tone as he doesn't seem to take Meditat seriously now seeing how broken he is, "Oh, you are alive, that's great."
Indra then lifts his right arm up, and closes his fist, making sure it's visible to Meditat. He proceeds to ask, "Do you want to go a few more rounds before I go home then? I mean I'm tired but I guess I could still fight a bit. I won't go easy on you though, I'd rather knock you out as quickly as possible. Then again, after seeing how much you like to get back up, maybe I should just rip that juicy brain out of that dense skull of yours. Actually, I kind of like that idea, maybe I'll keep it as a reward too, I mean it sounds a bit gross but I can make an exception for you. You've really pissed me off today, anyways."
Meditat just continues to carry himself towards Indra without saying a word, not seeming to be playing along with his quips, as it's not clear if he's listening to them, or if he can even hear them to begin with.
However, as he walks to the center of the room, getting closer to Indra, a sudden eruption of what almost seems like blue fire emerges from the hole in his chest, with the such great flames that exit the hole and illuminate his entire chest. The energy is so immense that it even incinerates the part of the green jacket blocking its way, allowing his skin to breathe as it projects the great energy off him. The streaks throughout his suit suddenly brighten as well in reaction to the burst, as the flames don't seem to vanish, only maintaining their presence as they rage.
While his eyes are still not visible, hidden due to his lowered head and covering hood, blue flames begin to emerge from where his eyes are, as they start to glow so brightly that they illuminate the shape of his eyes under the hood.
The burning man continues to approach Indra, as while he stays silent, he clearly doesn't seem to be completely drained. If anything, the raw energy coming off him is more intense than before, as there's no more mist, only flames.
The energy is enough to begin to worry Indra, who takes a step back, trying to play off the intensity of the situation by observing, "Woah, you do have some fight left in you! That should make this interesting then, I guess I will have to try! Right, Rohan?"
Indra's eyes blink twice, as his face begins to wear a fearful expression, and he reiterates, "Right...Rohan?"
Instead of Meditat giving a verbal response, the entirety of his right arm suddenly bursts in blue flames as well, which run from his shoulder down to his fingers. The intense blue flames disintegrate the green jacket's sleeve that he had before, further damaging his own jacket, a piece of his former self.
The blue flames dance, as his eyes, chest, and arm are now all set aflame, and Meditat doesn't stop walking towards Indra.
The flames cast a blue glow over Indra's body, as he gulps and steps back again. He slowly lifts his arms up and closes his other hand into a fist, trying to get ready for a fight, unsure of if Rohan was still even in the body.
As Meditat gets within a few feet of Indra, Indra becomes desperate to put him down, terrified by the sudden burst of energy coming off him. He throws his right arm for a jab, however it misses, as Meditat sways his back to the left loosely, as he still carries his body in a groggy fashion.
Indra, seeing that Meditat is right in front of his left arm, throws a jab with his left fist in hopes to land a strike.
However, once again Meditat effortlessly evades the attack, swaying back to the right. Furthermore, Meditat closes his right hand to a fist and pulls his flaming blue arm back, and as he charges his punch, the flames seem to curve down into the arm and create a solid layer around his skin.
He raises his head up as well, staring Indra straight in the face, revealing his face to still be bloodied from the earlier fighting albeit for his wiped mouth. His eyes blaze brighter than ever before, giving off their own fire, as his eyes are purely blue without a distinction between the iris and sclera. His appearance is almost ghostly under the hood, as his facial muscles aren't tightened, but instead completely relaxed, as though he isn't fighting. Even then, there's a clear aggression in his eyes, an urgency to fight.
The flames then harden to create a solid blue composite, creating the shape of what seems to be a part of the suit, however as it colorizes, it is clearly not a normal replacement for the lost upper arm and gauntlet.
Instead, Meditat encases his entire right arm in a carbon fiber black material much like that of his armored fists, and at the same time his arm also seems to be slightly bulkier than his left arm, as though he also armored the whole arm more. The fist appears just like the normal armored fist, as though the entire arm had become a stretched armored fist.
Meditat throws his right arm forward, and punches Indra straight in the face with an exaggerated punch. The greater power is enough to blow Indra's body back into the solid wall next to the hole, causing him to slide down the wall before hitting the ground.
Indra groans as he lays on the ground, surprised by the amount of power Meditat still had to give. He puts his hands on the floor and throws himself back to his feet, stumbling back and forth as he lifts his arms again, judging the situation. He stares at Meditat, and notices that his right arm suddenly bursts into blue flames again, consuming the gauntlet and armor he had just made, as it seems the solid construct is disintegrated by the raging flames.
Indra bends his knees and pulls his right arm back before summoning electric arcs off his body and coiling them around his gauntlet. He covers his whole dark blue gauntlet with yellow coils to the point where the whole gauntlet glows yellow, as he makes sure to charge it as much as he can.
He then leaps off of the ground, and propels himself towards Meditat with larger arcs. As he approaches Meditat, he throws his electrified fist, containing enough energy to hopefully put Meditat down if the strike lands.
Meditat sways to the side at the last second, just barely evading the electrified punch. He stands beside Indra as he continues to fly past him, and Meditat examines Indra's body in flight. His eyes then dart to Indra's left hand as he notices it extends out behind him, being pushed back to give himself more momentum for the punch.
With the opportunity granted before him, Meditat raises his right hand as the blue flames once again curve back into his arm, and create a solid composite. The composite then flashes and colorizes, returning the arm back to the similar black carbon fiber material as before.
However, this time the arm seems to have been modified, as large cracks run down the arm, which leads into a series of other smaller cracks that branch out. All of the cracks glow blue, wrapping the whole arm with ravines similar to the upgraded version of the armored fist that Meditat made against Cratus, however now it applies to the whole limb, including the upper arm, forearm, and the hand.
Meditat, now wearing the heavily cracked arm, grabs Indra's left wrist with his right hand. He then spins around, pulling Indra backwards and around with him. As he spins, his whole arm gives off a thick blue trail, as his arm is now fully capable of boosting similar to the rest of his suit. He faces the cubicles deeper into the room before releasing his grip on Indra.
Indra's body flies towards the cubicles, smashing through multiple cubicle walls, and destroying desks behind him. He comes to a stop after hitting another desk in the row of cubicles he flew through with a groan, looking up at the path of destruction with Meditat standing on the far side, staring back at him.
He grabs the desk he lands against and throws himself back on his feet, stumbling forward and shaking his head to try regaining stability. He stands up straight, looking back at Meditat, and rolls his shoulders while giving a deep breath.
The two outer capacitors on his suit then dim to darkness, being depleted as more yellow electric arcs start sparking off his body, as he falls back on his reserves. He then lifts his arms and aims his open hands at Meditat while arcs continue emerging off him, as he concentrates for a ranged strike.
Meditat's eyes contract to a glare as his right arm once again combusts into blue flames, seeming to once again reset itself. Only a few seconds after the combustion however the flames seem to curve back and harden once more, however this time parts of the arm seem padded, as he seems to change something about the shape itself.
The arm colorizes to reveal that he's maintained the carbon fiber black base with the blue cracks, but this time he has added something over the base, that being multiple objects that appear to be crystals of some sort, which act as padding. The sharp, naturally shaped, crystals have the same blue hue as his energy while also seeming to maintain a soft glow coming from inside.
Crystals are padded around his upper arm to give him more protection, being seemingly randomly placed around. On his forearm he has a single wide and long crystal that's placed on the front of his forearm, standing over where his black band would be, but the crystal is even longer.
The crystals protrude slightly off the carbon fiber base, just slightly emerging as though they are coming off of the arm. It gives the arm an alien nature, as while it doesn't appear like technology, it still very much is, however, one of a more abstract vision.
Indra breathes heavily as he seems almost frantic, and he then fires concentrated currents of yellow electricity right at Meditat from his gauntlets, trying not to get overwhelmed by the sudden changes he's making improvisationally.
Meditat lifts his arm up, the front of his forearm facing Indra as his fist faces the ceiling. He puts his forearm in front of his body, and the two streams of electricity seem to suddenly direct themselves towards the large crystal on his forearm, as though being attracted by a strange nature.
However, upon the two streaks striking Meditat, Meditat himself doesn't seem affected at all, as the only difference is that the crystal on his forearm starts to illuminate more brightly. Besides that, he stands his place without even sliding back, seeming to absorb the energy into the crystal.
Meditat then slowly begins walking forward, approaching Indra. The streams don't stop, and yet Meditat still seems capable of advancing, using his forearm as a shield.
Indra grits his teeth as he forces more energy into the streams, causing the electricity to become wider. Even then it doesn't slow Meditat down, but instead it seems to trigger Meditat to start walking faster before breaking into a sprint.
Indra tries to maintain the streams in hopes of overpowering Meditat, yet it doesn't seem that'd be the case, as Meditat chases him with long effortless strides as though the energy couldn't even hinder his movements.
Meditat sprints past the several cubicles as he charges at Indra, with no sign of stopping as instead he only runs faster with every step. He pulls his arm to the left as though readying to strike Indra with his arm, as even moving the arm from his face keeps him protected as the streams continue to attract to the crystal.
The crystals were not fancily-designed technological plates nor was it a genuine natural material Meditat used for this design. Instead, the crystals were a material that in the split moment of making them he created from scratch, not being real anywhere else, but instead being custom.
The crystals were created with several properties that made them useful for the combative situation: For one, they have a powerful magnetic-like property that makes them attract electric charge, hence why Indra's streams are stuck to it. Their impressive density and durability also makes them formidable armor. However, what was most incredible about the crystals, and their true purpose, is that they are designed as nearly perfect appliances of Meditat's own generated energy, meant to let him imbue his energy into it to increase the crystal's strength and charge it as though the crystals are still a device.
The second version of the armored fists were designed with this strategy of allowing Meditat's energy to flow more freely and purely through his weapons, but now with the addition of the crystals, he has begun exponentially building on that idea to create the perfect tools for his power.
As Meditat throws his arm to try knocking Indra, Indra quickly carries his body with his electric arcs, orbiting around Meditat and dashing away from the cubicles. His body flies back out to the open space with multiple large yellow arcs propelling him forward, helping him evade the attack.
He lands back on the ground and watches Meditat turn around to face him again, seeing that he got away. Indra starts taking steps back as larger arcs start coming off of his back, and they arch over his shoulders. They then seem to create long branches that bend off of the original arc, being about eight feet long and facing down, hovering in front of Indra's body.
Indra then reaches out for one of the long bolts and grabs it with his right gauntlet. He curls his metal fingers around it before seeming to snap it off the original bolt, although even then the long bolt seems to be maintaining itself, almost like a spear made of energy.
It seems he's able to use his gauntlets to hold the pure energy as easily while also constantly charging it with enough energy for it to be maintained as a bolt when it'd eventually leave his hand. He keeps a steady grip of it, holding it like a solid weapon, trying to get creative with his powers too.
He then raises the spear and pulls his arm back, aiming for Meditat in a desperate attempt to get rid of him from a safe distance. He throws the first spear at Meditat while another spear forms by the right arc.
Meditat begins sprinting towards Indra as he starts throwing the spears. Meditat strafes to the side as he avoids the first spear, and watches as Indra grabs the other electric spear on his other side before aiming it.
Meditat leaps forward in the air with a boost, evading the next thrown spear as Indra tosses it. He lands back on the ground and continues to run before strafing while leaping to dodge another, and in the air he boosts to the side to dodge a four.
Indra growls in frustration as his arcs continue forming more spears for him, however none of them appear to land despite the speed they travel at. He grabs both spears by his side as the arcs continue resupplying the projectiles for him, and aims both of them at the same time, finding himself in more despair.
Meditat charges at Indra as he sees the two spears ready to be fired at him, and he leaps in the air right as Indra throws both. He puts his arms by his side and spins around in the air, boosting him forward as his body becomes wrapped in a funnel of energy. The slimness of the funnel allows Meditat to pass in between the two thrown spears, letting him stop spinning as he descends down towards Indra from above.
He raises his right arm back, which is then enflamed with fiery blue energy. As he approaches Indra, the fire hardens again, recreating the next level of the arm.
Most of the arm is still the same as before, with the black carbon fiber base and blue cracks, overlayed with the crystals around his upper arm and a large one on his forearm. However, the crystal on his forearm seems to have changed, protruding more as it seems to have more height. Furthermore, emerging from the front of the crystal is a long crystal blade that comes off Meditat's arm and extends far beyond his hand.
The gauntlet sword glows from within, imbued with great energy, as Meditat raises his up, ready to bring it down on Indra. Blue sparks of excess energy come off the blade as he overcharges the crystal, which has been perfectly sharpened as a weapon.
Indra's eyes widen in fear from the long blade, and he instinctively grabs the two spears in front of them, however he doesn't aim to use them for their original purpose. As he grips the spears, he holds them up in a cross, seeming to be using them like staves as the original arcs on his back disperse.
Meditat's crystal blade clashes with Indra's two electric poles, as great sparks of blue and yellow energy come off from the collision. Meditat tries to bring his arm down while Indra tries to keep powering the poles enough to fight back, draining himself just to keep himself protected.
The two are fixed in their clash, locking blades and eyes as they fight for dominance. Meditat's blazing blue eyes stare through the sparks at Indra's yellow illuminating eyes, with a strong glare coming off of Meditat.
The crystal blade suddenly starts to glow even brighter as more energy is being pushed into it, which lets out more sparks and causes it to brighten so much that it seems almost composed of energy itself.
In turn, the two yellow poles start to become slimmer and dimmer until completely dispersing as Meditat's blade cuts through them, having overpowered Indra's defenses.
Indra staggers backwards after losing the clash, and he watches as Meditat's blue arm scorches again, seeming to be reset and reshaping. Flames come off the arm before then hardening to recreate the arm, which is nearly identical to the one before, however this time it lacks the blade.
While it may initially seem like a regression, the carbon fiber fist seems to have been modified, as now there appears to be small yet hard crystals on each of Meditat's knuckles, reinforcing his fists with more blue crystals. While Meditat has ditched the blade, he seems to take on a more personal approach, now that he's closed the gap between him and Indra.
To close the gap even further, Meditat surprisingly grabs onto Indra's body with his left hand, finally seeming to use it. He tightly grips the purple leathery material, holding Indra in place as he pulls his right arm back, which causes the small knuckle crystals to begin glowing with more energy imbued in it.
Meditat then throws his fist into Indra's abdomen, causing Indra's body to bend forwards as he coughs in pain. Meditat pulls his arm back as his arm flashes blue, and as it becomes visible once again it seems that there has been another modification, as it seems Meditat is changing the arm at a quicker rate.
While the modification is more subtle, crystals are present on each of Meditat's proximal phalanges, reinforcing the part of his fist that faces Indra. The crystals also begin glowing blue after their creation, and without wasting another moment, Meditat once again drives his fist into Indra's abdomen.
He pulls his arm back again, causing it to flash, as in his mind all he tells himself is to continue bettering his arm, making it stronger and more powerful, his imagination running far beyond its old limitations as he keeps creating new gauntlets every moment.
After all that Indra has done, the most Meditat could do was push the bounds of what he could make against Indra, letting himself surpass what he used to think made sense and pushing forward to empower himself.
The next iteration of Meditat's arm that appears after the flash now has a wide crystal that sits on the back of his hand, acting as a plate that better encases his hand in hard crystals. The crystal illuminates upon being added, joining with the rest of the crystals as Meditat punches Indra in the abdomen again.
As Meditat pulls his arm back and causes it to flash, a crack appears on the cases of the two inner capacitors, as it seems the punches are damaging the suit. The cracks crawl up the capacitors as the suit weakens, with another blow about to hit.
With the next flash executed, a long crystal bracelet of sorts appears over Meditat's wrist, with natural spikes protruding out of the bracelet. The bracelet is made to help keep Meditat's fist tight, reinforcing his form since he had already armored every part of his hand being put into the strike.
Meditat then throws one more punch into Indra's abdomen, and as his hard fist strikes Indra's body, a shatter is heard.
The casing of the inner capacitors shatters as the shards fly forward, spilling off of Indra's body. The result causes a burst of yellow energy that escapes Indra's body, pushing Meditat's body backwards and away from Indra at last.
However, while Meditat was finally at a distance from Indra, Indra finds that the remaining capacitors that were full were gone, and even if he were to depend on the other two, there was no doubt that a significant component of his suit was destroyed. He was already taking rather taxing damage, and this was yet another great blow during their battle.
Indra lets out a hesitant sigh, knowing now that the only energy currently on him was the one surging around his body. He is gradually losing his grip in the fist, as he lowers his head to look at the shards on the floor, and raises his head back at Meditat.
Indra clenches his right hand in a tight fist as arcs come off his body and coil around his fist. He continues coiling more energy, charging it as much as possible without destroying his supply.
Rings of pure yellow electricity wrap around his hand and fingers like a hand wrap, and he bends his knees as larger arcs emerge from his body to charge himself up.
Meditat bends his knees and pulls his arm back as it flashes again, this time adding an additional long crystal on the bottom of his forearm to reinforce itself, which then glows. He keeps his fist closed, as the two stare at each other for a moment.
Indra and Meditat then both launch off the ground, as Indra propels himself forwards with arcs of yellow electricity pushing him ahead, and Meditat boosts himself forward with a trail of blue energy tailing behind.
The two converge as they throw their fists at each other, and once again their fists clash in a heavy strike, with such great power that it causes a shockwave that knocks back desks and cubicle walls around them.
The strike was so great in fact that as the two's fists stay pushed against each other, Indra's right dark blue gauntlet suddenly shatters into large metallic fragments, as his whole gauntlet is completely destroyed from the clash.
Indra's eyes shoot wide open in a mixture of confusion and terror as one of his main weapons is gone, even though he imbued so much power into his strike. The gauntlet wasn't made of glass either, as it was built with the most durable material Dana could make for him, meant to be the ultimate component of the suit as it helped him manage his own energy with such ease when normally such output could damage himself.
As the dark pieces fall on the floor, Meditat immediately throws a followup strike towards Indra's face, his fist still tight as his eyes still blaze ferociously.
Indra instinctively pulls off the same move as before, holding his open left hand in front and using it to block Meditat's fist to prevent it from making contact. He succeeds in catching Meditat's punch, protecting his face, but in doing so his left gauntlet shatters into pieces just as his other, leaving both of his hands exposed as more dark blue fragments hit the ground.
Indra's yellow eyes widened even more from the last gauntlet being destroyed, as he thought he caught the strike, but if anything he just let his other weapon get destroyed.
The force of the punch pushes Indra's arm back, letting Meditat's arm extend completely in a follow through. As his arm extends out, he opens his hand tensely, and his arm flashes blue one more time, as he makes his final upgrade of the fight.
After the flash, the final change is solidified, this being on his fingers again. Now each of his fingers are covered in intricately cut crystals, still giving him agility while turning his fingers blue. At the tip of each finger is also a sharp crystal, transforming his gloves into sharp and hard claws.
Meditat then jerks his arm back swiftly, and he drags the sharp claws straight through Indra's stomach, between the capacitors and his best. The claws pierce through Indra's purple suit, the crystals stabbing into his skin while peeling off pieces of his leathery suit.
In that one moment, strips of purple leather fly off of Indra's body along with a large horde of microscopic drops of blood. The impenetrable shield of Indra has been destroyed, his human blood having been fully exposed.
Meditat brings his arm back to his side and takes a step back to assess the damage. He looks down on Indra to see a pile of blood come out of his newly opened wound, with five red streaks across his purple suit.
Indra immediately covers the wound with his hand, and takes a step back, coughing in pain from the unexpected slash. His hand reddens quickly as it's covered in his blood, as the pace of the fight abruptly collapses.
Indra staggers backwards again, hyperventilating from the painful strike, as now as he's well aware he's constantly bleeding. He clenches his teeth in pain, as the energy in Meditat's crystals seems to make the slash even more agonizing.
He lowers his head to look at the ground, staring at the dark blue metallic fragments of his destroyed gauntlets, now being showered in crimson red blood that creates pools beside the fragments and pours more on top of it.
Astounded by the blood that he himself sheds, all he can do is gaze at the fragility of his suit but more importantly the mortality of himself.