The spirit world throughout the tower that Winston had been using for all his powers had been sealed. Effectively, it blocked off the majority of his door pathway abilities which were mainly based off of the spirit world.
Many more of his beyonder abilities, like divination had also been rendered essentially useless.
And with Enryu suddenly making an appearance, Winston was left with a single choice.
I'll kill all of them. That was the decision. And so, the shinsu around him roared, transforming into various mircro-organisms. Instantly, they were all parasitized or turned into marionettes, morphing into various forms of Winston himself!
With a smile, Winston spread open his arms and watched as his avatars and marionettes blinked into the astral world, forming even more clones through the use of afterimages. Worms spread about through the air, his numbers increasing in just a split second.
In front of the supreme commander of Jahad Forces, Winston who had previously stood alone now transformed into 40 of himself!
This was all he could do by his singular worm that he held within. The rest of his avatars had been summoned by Enryu. Even White had not been spared. As for the worm inside Theolis Clear, it had long been destroyed; and although the corresponding beyonder characteristic had returned to Winston, the worm had yet to recover.
Regardless, as long as he had even one worm, which he would also have; he was basically a small army by himself.
A member of the Mysteries pathway can never be caught alone.
Adori Jahad narrowed her eyes.
"So you were 'The Lovers' after all. I wouldn't be surprised if you're also every other tarot card holder we've seen."
Hearing her words, the various Winstons standing on the train collectively raised their heads and met her gaze. With serene smiles and clear eyes, they all mouthed a single word.
"Guess."
Swiiish!
With a snarl on her face, Adori Jahad took her sword out and slashed in a single motion.
And that was the signal.
Instantly, many of Winston's avatars leapt into the astral world, appearing near the many warships stationed in the skies! Their spirit body threads wrapped around the material and the immaterial, converting hundreds of people on board into marionettes!
Winston's marionettes were not necessarily marionettes and his avatars were not necessarily avatars. Each avatar was a marionette, and each marionette an avatar. So long as they were both, a marionette themselves could also make a marionette!
One of him appeared inside the train itself, making his friends aware of the chaos unfolding outside and that they had to leave.
All while this happened, Winston's original body floated up silently to meet Adori Jahad and Theolis Clear in combat!
Boom!
...
Rachel felt the entire train tremble under her feet as she sprang up to stand. Yura took a hold of her.
"Is that ticket ever going to do anything!?"
"I don't know!"
Rachel grasped the ticket tightly in her hand. It was supposedly a 'ticket to freedom' and was imbued with a powerful enchantment. Or so said the silver dwarf. Until now, it had yet to do anything that would permit their escape.
It had been dormant, without a hint of shinsu in it!
"Dammit!" Yura slammed her fist into the door, anger clouding her mind.
Rumble!
The train shook again, throwing Rachel off balance.
Just then, the ticket twitched.
"Eh?"
And then transformed into a whirlpool of red, swallowing them whole!
"Not again!"
...
Winston had not been given the chance to test out his Sequence 3 abilities.
Boom!
Slash!
And so, this proved to be the ideal training ground.
Whooosh!
He felt something blitz past his face, grazing his cheek and drawing a line of blood. It was a blood red spear. And thousands of such spears were, at the moment, raining down on all of his avatars at this very moment.
Winston looked to the sky. There, perched in the high heavens was Theolis. Or better to say Enryu, the Red Tower.
"Feeling distracted?"
Winston ducked below a sword slash, but all in vain as he saw it coming at him from below!
Spurt!
The sword drew blood. His blood hung in the air for a moment before it all returned to his body. Winston narrowed his eyes at the princess of Jahad.
It was only now that he was actually beginning to find out why Arie swordsmanship was such a pain to deal with. He had gained a basic idea when one of his avatars parasitized a concubine of Arie Hon, but that was more of an execution. In a real battle?
Whoosh! Swiiish!
Spurt!
It was more like the sword crept into the space around it, turning every point in space time into a blade. Naturally, it was not very good for the opponent.
Winston flicked his wrist. The space around them began to cave in, forming a natural barrier. The spears that were being thrown at them ripped right through the barrier but failed to hit Winston all the same. As he avoided the spears, the sword came right for his neck.
With a smile, Winston let the sword his it's mark. And his head flew.
At that moment, another Winston appeared behind the princess and the one in front pointed a finger gun at her.
Adori's eyes widened slightly. She grasped the hilt of her blade tighter and in the next second, a gust of slashes with her at the epicentre was released! Winston once again leapt into the astral realm and 'blinked' some distance away. An afterimage was left to be shredded, one that even after it had supposedly died, pointed it's finger at her fired an air bullet.
Slash!
Whoosh!
The assault upon him continued. Winston nimbly avoided the spear and tanked most of the damage from Adori with his afterimages. Both of them could tear space apart with their attacks. Making a spacial barrier was inherently useless.
Winston smiled at the two people assaulting him and saw into the horizon. The machine god was almost at the station.
Cracking his neck, Winston felt that he should now finally get serious.
Even his other avatars weren't outright destroying the squadrons. He might need to test things, but putting himself in danger for it was not the way to go.
Winston extended his hand into the air and his arm sank into the void. Every other avatar did the same. And then, with a flick of their arm, they 'pulled' Visionary Adam back from various parts of history.
More than a hundred of him did the same. All the Adams that had appeared in the air were momentarily dazed. They all collectively blinked and Winston felt a part of his consciousness began to overtake the new avatars.
Adori blinked dazedly at the spectacle but then instantly sprang into action.
With a single slash, the world seemed like it would end.
Shaaaaaa!
A hundred meter long slash extended through the air, tearing through space and simultaneously landing on every single marionette present!
Winston blinked through the astral world and through his connection with the afterimage, transferred all the damage his avatars had received into the afterimage!
Boom!
The poor afterimage exploded in a mess of gore.
The various Adams raised their hands. One of them teleported above the sky and looked down at the chaos happening below. With a serene smile, he envisioned another Winston.
The Winston he had envisioned was fundamentally weaker and lacked the corresponding godhood Winston contained within himself. But since visionary Adam was a being of history, and held enough worms inside of him, he 'gifted' one of his worms which had been pulled from history to the envisioned Winston.
The process repeated dozens of times in an instant.
Even down there.
And the battlefield which had previously been desolate and empty, filled only by explosions of shinsu and red spears darting everywhere; began to get filled by the sheer volume of Winstons.
As a historical projection, Adam could not create historical projections himself. But since his envisioning ability had no clear limit since it had been manifested through shinsu, and he had plenty of worms to support himself, it led to a loop.
In just a few seconds, thousands of Winstons had appeared in the air; even blocking out the sky!
Adori looked at all of this happening in bewilderment. As did Enryu's clone.
With Decryption having been strengthened, Winston could already see that this Enryu was nowhere near as strong as the one fighting off all his other avatars. In fact, that Enryu was strong enough to keep them at bay. Though not enough to win indefinitely.
Having said that, Winston began to make his counterattack.
Adori suddenly felt her thoughts coming to a standstill. Her joints felt as if they had been filled with lead and the world turned blurry!
Swooosh!
Her body moved on instinct, not conscious thought. Centuries of combat made her lash out without hesitation!
With Arie swordsmanship, she sliced apart the spirit body threads that had been lodged to her own soul. Just then, as she felt some clarity return to her body; the feeling returned!
Swooosh!
The sword struck, cutting the strings. Yet, with so many marionettists, how could she catch a break?
All the Winstons, though they could no longer control the marionettes if they formed them(they had already all reached their limits by gifting their worms to historical projections and envisioned marionettes), they could put them out of commission. And so, with however intensity the battle might've begun, it ended in such an anticlimactic way.
Everyone was turned into a husk.
Adori Jahad was in a perpetual stalemate.
Winston and the hundred others flicked their wrists at the same time. And Adori Jahad's combat experience, her swordsmanship, her muscle memory, all were stolen. She finally stopped; dead for good.
As for the machine god?
Winston turned around to meet the god.
Just then, his arm sank into the historical void. Unsummoning one of the Adams and losing a large chunk of his army, he pulled out the Paragon.
"Play with him for a bit." Winston patted the man's back.
And that was that. With the Paragon and a hundred Adams, how could a machine god have a chance?
Truly, he had gotten way too strong.
In the end, Winston was left unsatisfied. He had thought to be able to test various other abilities.
Historical Void Borrowing had practically went unused. Space tearing which could create space time storms as well. Not to mention Deceiving.
Oh well, they're being tested with the real body of Enryu. Winston did not feel too worried. If the avatars died, the characteristics would return to him. If they didn't they could always commit suicide right?
With that thought, he turned to the final pain in his neck.
Theolis Clear.
Enryu's avatar.
"For Enryu's avatar, you're quite weak." Winston said, appearing before him. The man had been trapped by various uses of beyonder powers. Spirit body threads, envisioning chains around him, trapping him using the newly unlocked sealing ability.
It all came together to be able to contain him.
Mind you, this was only the avatar, not the true body. The true body was currently fending off all of Winston's avatars, their historical projections, their marionettes and the like.
Enryu's original body might be comparable to a sequence 1. Might even be a king of angels since he's so strong.... but that might be pushing it a bit. I'll just say he's sequence 1. Winston mused in his heart and focused back on the man.
Enryu laughed.
His red eyes shot up to look into Winston's and a sarcastic smile appeared on his face.
"Is that so? You'll be surprised. I think it's just you who's gotten too powerful so quickly."
"That might be true." Winston chuckled.
"So what was the plan in reality? I still fail to follow along."
"You haven't seen it?" Enryu laughed. "It's a pity. If you keep going like this, you might die without even knowing it."
"Spare me your theatrics." Winston smiled. Just then, he seemed to realize something.
"Fuck." He cursed, making Enryu laugh harder.
"You realized it? Your powers are quite potent I see."
Indeed. Winston had realized it.
He slowly massaged his eyes.
Enryu had two distinct auras. He had thought that it might be Theolis' aura mingling with Enryu's or it was some unique shinsu. But looking at it now, that was not the case.
Enryu's avatar that stood before him was only a little weaker than he had been when he committed the massacre on the 43rd floor. Enryu's original body?
He had been enhanced.
And he felt like he knew the answer.
In the moment he realized it; he leapt into the historical void, leaving everything behind and jumping through history. His avatars vanished into fog behind him; but still leaving Enryu trapped.
Visions floated past him. Wars, peace, the death of the administrator, the time when the 13 were climbing the tower.
And so, he came to a standstill.
His head was covered by beads of sweat and he prepared to ascend to the sefirah castle to make a divination. There, even if the spirit world had been blocked, he would still attain some revelation; however insignificant.
Just then-
Pierce!
A blood red spear stabbed through his chest. Winston's eyes widened.
He looked behind him.
It was Zarhan Zulasekail. His dirty brown hair had been tinged red, the same for his eyes. He gave him a toothy grin, his sharp canines clearly visible.
He gave Winston a push.
And he fell out of the void.
...
...
*Puts on monocle* "Praise the Fool!"
The anime is LOOOKIN GOOD! It's so hype to see LoTM getting the adaptation it deserved. Thank god they used their own animation studio and didn't give it off to a random japanese studio.
We wouldn't want another tbate... *shudders*
Also, Cyberpunk Edgerunners Season 2 CONFIRMED! Hell yeah!!!!
I'm hyped af for that. To the point that I want to make a fanfic for it but I have too much on my plate to do that.
Anyways, this was a stressful chapter to write. At first I was thinking of ways to get more tension into the fight. Then, I decided to fuck it and style on these mfs. It didn't make a lot of sense for Winston to lose to Adori and Enryu knockoff combined.
This fight was supposed to be a lot more even because this was one of the scenes which sparked by imagination to write this fanfic. At that point, I had not watched Gustang vs Traumerei yet and was mistaken about the power levels. I was under the impression that the family heads were the tog equivalents of nukes but after reading through that fight, they barely classify as small missiles.
If the power level had been as SIU's blog posts mentioned, that would've been a more even fight ig.
Also, just to clear some stuff up; Winston is not yet at the level of administrators. But if he fought one he wouldn't necessarily lose. It might end in a stalemate.
Throw some stones and do remember to check out my other works as well.