When it comes to fights there is a feeling that you feel, often because of the fact that you are locked in a match of might vs might be it magical, mental, or physical that forces you to be on edge and drain yourself quickly. Yet even from the distance as I saw Aiden and Jackson running around as streaks of fire and lightning grabbing people and throwing them to the rest of us I could feel the shockwaves of every blow that came from the massive beast.
"Jax, focus up, we have to get them to the gate here!"
Thalia called as her strings latched around several people and threw them through the portal that had been created. I turned back to brace myself, bending down as the unconscious elven man fell and landed on my back as I cushioned him. Selene on the other side caught someone else as Thalias strings grabbed them and began to move them through the portal. Aiden and Jackson began to search into a set of nearby buildings as I turned back to the fight. Though to call it a fight would not be a very good description.
Zilla was being ripped into, every few seconds a strange pulse shot out as boils and blisters would form on his scales, the massive guy in a hoodie was throwing punch after punch, and firing blasts from his mouth that ripped chunks of flesh away, shockwaves from what I could only assume was a cannon fired as pulses of psychic energy ripped over Zilla's body.
Yet they didn't slow him down. Wounds that appeared vanished before more could form. As I watched Zilla opened his mouth as if to bellow and I felt like the air was being sucked away as if being dragged in. Had that attack hit then the hoodie guy might not be standing as a massive white and gold hand came through a gate, grabbing Zilla's jaw and forcing the attack upward. It flew with a ear shattering scratch as the hand vanished, a chunk of it blown away, but it was only when I looked upwards did I realize the magnitude it held.
The sky had been cloudy, not fully so, but enough that rain could be expected, and yet in a circle so large it must have been visible from anywhere in the world the clouds were gone, ripped away by the force of the attack, even with nothing it hit. Looking up I saw a massive ball of flames beginning to build around who I could barely make out as Alaster. On a nearby ship the sounds of combat and exchanges of blows could be seen as the ship rocked and swayed.
I had apparently been so enthralled with watching the scenes that I didn't notice a figure walking up next to me.
"Yea, that feeling of being a little fish in a big pond doesn't really ever go away."
Emi said from next to me as we began to jog after Aiden and jackson who were on finding duty so they wouldn't have to run back. Her brass knuckles were off as her ears were tied down with small lengths of twine, like she was trying to muffle the sounds around her.
"What do you mean!? Aren't you and your group almost level 40, your close to some of the highest leveled people you can really expect to meet."
I asked as I caught someone else, Emi doing the same. In the distance I saw the hoodie kid's arm get ripped off mid swing and before his punch would have connected a pulse of green shot through him as a new arm was already in place. Then his head was gone, in a clean strike as his body began to lean forward. Before he fully fell over his head was back as he clasped both his hands and brought his fists up into Zillas Jaw.
"Yea but considering were looking to guys like that as an example of what people can be around our level we feel like slackers."
Emi said as she glanced upward towards the floating ships where the figure of a massive demonic figure was almost knocked overboard before they grabbed on and pulled themselves back into the fight. I turned back to her with a raised eyebrow.
"Those are a baseline, hate to break it to ya, but those guys are probably like level 60 or more, otherwise how the hell are they possibly keeping up with that thing, hell hoodie guy must have died like 12 times now, but he keeps coming back."
"Yea that's Trent, we joke that he's an immortality matrix, and bringing the dead back is something he can do mid fight, those guys are probably dipping into HP for half their attacks just to do some damage with Trent on recovery control. Though you won't believe me, they are only level 45."
I turned with a wide-eyed look that seemed to make Emi chuckle as she caught someone heading for me, I didn't notice.
"You're right, I don't believe you. Plus, even if I did, you all are on a similar level, so why exactly is the difference in power so substantial?"
"Well, it's because we were made as one-shot characters, basically we were made from the box with no extra flares, those guys are more like main accounts with all the modifications and more to make them more effective, though the main reason they are so strong is because they are gi-"
Emi leaned in as if to whisper but was cut off as above us the sound of a massive explosion could be heard. We all looked up to see that the ship where the demon had been fighting was beginning to fall rapidly. I turned to the others where we all began to run as fast as we could to get out of range for when this thing would fall. Ahead of us, I could see Aiden running, and while he wouldn't admit it, using his max output skill wise and engine was causing him a lot of pain, as even from here I could feel the heat radiating off of him, even on the engine's Idling mode, its lowest setting. I speed up to run alongside him as he was watching the ship fall.
"How's your engine doing?"
"I-Its fine, just a bit warm from running it so long."
As we ran, I debated confronting him on this before he suddenly skidded to a stop, his eyes locked on the ship whereas if by some silent magic several icy structures had formed around the bottom of the ship as if to catch it, but they were only half done as the ship crashed into them. On the front of the ship was one of the student councils, the ice woman who seemed to be badly hurt from the fight and was going to be slammed into the road. Selene stopped yelling at us as she ran over trying to pull us along.
"Come on, we need to get out of their way!"
Aiden looked back at her as the two still couldn't meet each other's eyes and I saw where Selene reached out as if to grab Aiden's wrist to pull him along but stopped. Aiden turned up to the ship as I opened my mouth to tell him to stop but he had already pulled the cord, his engine revving loudly as he yelled over the noise.
"If she dies, then that demon she was fighting can attack the group holding back Zilla, now RUN REDLINE!"
Aiden jumped, landing against a nearby wall before rocketing towards the bow of the ship. My eyes tracked him until I felt it. It was a feeling I always hated but it had saved me time and time again, a skill that I'm not sure even my party remembers I have that made my hair stand up on the back of my neck.
Your Soulskill Danger Sense has alerted you to the arrival of M*s@$y
I whipped my head around, expecting to see something unholy, too many arms, legs, eyes, mouths, indescribable, but describable at the same time, but instead I saw a kid in a trenchcoat with a strange glow in his eyes. He might have even blended in as a member of another group who were saving those who got caught in the massive blast of Zilla emerging from the underground. Yet when he spoke, I could feel nothing but animosity.
"It only takes one… bad… dice roll"
Selene paled as she whipped around her eyes looking to Aiden as I followed her gaze. He was on the bow, a hand reaching in as he grabbed the ice girl and threw her to the side, but as he did, a wave of rigidity rushed through him as if he had been dunked in icy water. Selene and I rushed forward to help, but a wave of tenseness rushed over us as we both froze, every muscle tensed against our control as a notification appeared.
Emit has used skill Eye of Paralysis(C) on you
Emit has used skill Eye of Paralysis(C) on Party member Selene
I tried to move, to do something, but my body wouldn't listen as I watched the ship falling towards us, ready to crush Selene, Aiden and I into the cobbles. Behind us Emit laughed, but the way he did it gave no doubts that he wasn't human, because no human laugh could sound so cruel.