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Chapter 35
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Bucht followed Dock through the disheveled streets into the Talos district. Nervaeus was last seen in the area.

“What’s the plan?” Bucht asked.

Dock said, “Adamast shouldn’t be far behind us. If we spot Nervaeus, we slow him down if necessary, but wait for her to launch an all-out assault. I’ll scan for any weaknesses, and heal minor injuries, as usual.”

“Works for me. I think we should have packed some water.”

“There should be plenty around this part of town for you to play with.”

“I meant to drink. I haven’t felt this parched in a while.”

Dock eyed him curiously, and popped out the scanner in his prosthetic arm. Dock turned about, aiming his scanner everywhere but Bucht. The little man sensed something was wrong. When Docked stopped at one direction, Bucht looked the same way and found a man step out of the shadows.

“I should have guessed,” Dock said. “It’s one of the Asylum escapees.”

“Which one?” Bucht asked.

“Dissipate, stop where you are! You’re under arrest! Bucht, you might not want to get too close. There’s no telling who’ll win out if your powers clash.”

The villain only barked a laugh. “So, I get to meet the two of you. Tell me, little hero, will your minor healing abilities work on someone when I’m done with them? Yes, stay your distance if you can. It won’t do you good for very long.”

“He’s the reason we’re both feeling thirsty right now. Much closer, and we’d dehydrate to death.”

“We’ll see about that,” Bucht said.

“Bucht, don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Do anything foolish.”

“Foolish it is!” He reached out for the nearest sources of water with a grin while his friend wrapped his own face with his palm.

A tentacle of water burst through a manhole cover, and Bucht swung it at the villain. So much of it evaporated before reaching the man, Bucht might as well have shot a water pistol at a mountain and call it a night.

Judging by the look on Dissipate’s face, Bucht had to guess that this had taken the other man a fair amount of effort. It was possible to win, but, as Dock suggested, he needed to keep his distance.

“We do not have to fight,” Bucht said. “You could always walk away.”

Dissipate said, “And have you heroes stab me in the back? I don’t think so. How about you two turn around and leave?”

“We can’t do that. There is a dangerous man ahead. We have to stop him from doing any more harm. We know your history, but we can go our separate ways.” He leaned closer to Dock, and toned down his voice. “He’s one of the dangerous ones, right?”

“Even for Asylum standards,” Dock remarked.

“What do you say? Yes, no?”

“No,” Dissipate answered. He ran towards the heroes.

In a bout of quick thinking, Bucht turned a fountain into a geyser half a block away, and the water came gushing from the side, taking an empty car with it. The car slid across the ground and cut off Dissipate in his path. The gushing water arched above the car as it stopped, and it turned on the villain.

The villain managed to evaporate most of the gushing water from the fountain before it doused him as hard as a garden hose. Bucht followed the assault up with another swipe with a tentacle from the sewer.

Disspate shouted, and the water all evaporated. Even at this range, Bucht felt even more parched than before. If he didn’t end this soon, or if Dissipate got any closer, he’d lose this fight.

Dock throw something at the car, and it exploded with a small, concussive blast while the villain climbed on top of the vehicle to get closer to them. The car flipped into the air and tumbled back down mere feet from where it started, and Dissipate fell to the ground with a vulgar scream.

“Punch him,” Dock said.

“Right,” Bucht agreed. He grabbed more water from the fountain on the edge of his own range, and shot a massive jet of it toward Dissipate, who was still behind the car and trying to get up.

However, someone came down feet-first where the villain was, and jumped again over the car with Dissipate in hand. The muscular figure landed a few yards away from the heroes while the water passed behind. He sneered at them.

“Puny things think they’re strong,” he said. His voice gave away that it was Nervaeus. He twisted his handed as he held the groaning villain by the neck, and Bucht could hear the violent, telling crack that came with it.

The heroes could only watch Dissipate fall lifeless to the ground.

Both of them scrambled to move, Bucht’s water powers and all, but Nervaeus was quick. He knocked Bucht back with a simple backhand against his chest. Bucht coughed and made a sharp inhale for air, and he sat up. Dock punched Nervaeus once with his cybernetic arm—which packed a hell of a punch—but it did nothing more than provoke the big guy to grab the recoiling arm and crush it with a single grasp.

Dock fell back with a loss of balance from trying to pry his arm free, only to have lost it, and Bucht charged at Nervaeus without another thought. It was the last coherent thought Bucht had, as bad as it was, as Nervaeus caught him and punched him in the chest again. This time, Bucht could feel it going through him. He tried to move, tried to think or to deny it, but he lost his senses one by one, touch and sight being the last to go.

“Shit, shit, shit . . . !” she grumbled to herself as Adamast tackled the asshole who just punched a hole through her friend’s chest. She was too slow to save him.

The impact forced the two men sideways even as the larger of them withdrew his hand. Adamast punched Nervaeus and sent him flying as Bucht’s body turned and fell.

Dock crawled to his partner at speed.

“Get to safety,” Adamast said.

“He killed him,” Dock said.

“I know.”

“We can fix it; we can make it better!”

“Dock, no. Don’t do this to yourself. Get going.”

“But I . . . I can heal him. Just give me a minute. Oh, Bucht, please not like this. I promise to give you my sister’s number. Please!”

“Dock! He’s gone. Get to the E since it’s close. We’ll honor him later.”

Nervaeus said, “Honor him now while you still can. You’re all going with this pitiful city.”

“Adamast?” Dock said, “Kick his ass.”

“Planning on it,” she said.

“You think that one hit of yours means you can?” Nervaeus said. He took a step toward Dock, who still wasn’t moving.

Adamast used her ice armor powers to grow a trail of frozen spikes on the ground from herself to Nervaeus, and a wall sprouted in front of him. Nervaeus brought the wall down with a hit, and Adamast slid at him for another attack, hoping the wall placated the big guy. She punched him, skated after him, and punched him again.

Nervaeus’s body slammed through a pillar and a corner of two brick walls. The alleged god got up with a proud smile set directly upon Adamast. “Very well, mortal. It will be your last.”

“Shut up,” she demanded.

He came at her with his own assault, and she was ready with a dense layer of ice guarding her extremities. His punches still hurt as her form crashed through several surfaces, but she was just getting started.

“None can stand against me,” Nervaeus said, “for I am a god.”

“You’re on my turf.” Adamast tackled Nervaeus, fists first, and pushed him into a wide intersection that looked abandoned now that people were fleeing the city. Nervaeus crashed down against the pavement; Adamast somersaulted over him. “Godhood means nothing here. You’re nothing but another villain at the end of another day.”

He got up, raging at her. “I am Nervaeus!”

“And I’m recalling a moment ago when I told you to shut up. Put your actions where your loud mouth is and prove it.”

Nervaeus charged her, and they exchanged heavy blows. It caused their feet to dig into the asphalt and concrete, their bodies to smash through vehicles and walls. Nervaeus grabbed for her neck at one point, and she maneuvered around in a way that caused Adamast to lift her opponent with her legs and swing him down against the ground. It left a crater the size of a taxi, which she promptly grabbed with her hands and swung down against the banished “god.”

With a yell, Nervaeus got up a second later and tore the taxi in half with his hands. He was bleeding at least a third as much as Adamast now felt bruised. If she was going to win, she would have to go all-out.

The last time she had done that, she had somehow managed to be responsible for several walls being rebuilt across the city even though most of the fight had taken place in another realm. If she didn’t unleash her strength now, however, there was no telling how much worse the city was bound to face at Nervaeus’s hands.

She launched herself at Nervaeus again, trading a small fraction of her strength for extra dense ice. With every punch she made, more ice covered the ground and the Vanquishiri, until there was enough on the ground to satisfy her. She solidified it, anchoring Nervaeus to the ground.

Adamast ran at full speed. She found the nearest wall to run up, and she ran.

“See now how your champion flees!” Nervaeus yelled after her loud enough for the city to hear.

But she kept running, pounding her feet into the wall and using ice to secure herself so she wouldn’t fall. Then, near the fortieth floor, she pushed back down against the building. Glass shattered and concrete caved in behind her.

The heroine focused large quantities of her strength and ice powers, especially the former, into a single punch. She only hoped that her aim was true. Nervaeus yelled out and raised his arms as if to block her, but he was too late. Adamast yelled out as well as she plummeted, faster and faster.

Upon impact, the whole world around her exploded. Cars lifted into the air. The ground became a suggestion. Ice grew and flew in every direction. Finally, Nervaeus collapsed with a scream, with feet still secure to the bottom of the crater that Adamast made. His knees and shins severed and snapped in a few places.

He shivered, though whether from the cold or the pain Adamast could neither tell nor care. She only kneeled over him with her fist clenched one more time.

“It’s a world of cardboard, and you’re just another sticker,” she said.

Then she delivered one last jab—her father’s signature punch—to the man’s face. It knocked him out cold.

When she stood up, Adamast surveyed the area around her. With or without the ice everywhere, the crater went a few feet below the sewer line, and spanned well beyond the edges of the intersection.

She activated her earpiece after a wince. “Mortar? Mortar Mage, I know you’re listening. Is what you’re doing worth it?”

There was a long pause. Then, finally, Mortar responded. “Yes, my friend.”

“The city is in ruin, and many lives have been lost.”

“More will be when this is done, but it’s either this, or everyone goes. There won’t be a city left, or even a universe. I hate this more than you know, but I’m doing it because no one else will. I’m doing it, because the hole would be tearing open on its own any moment. I’m sorry to scare everyone, but it had to be done. It had to buy me time to get my calculations and spells right.”

“Nervaeus is down. He’s breathing, but he’s not going anywhere.”

“Most of the villains are, by the sound of things. It’s hard to tell now, with signals dying in parts of the city. Grab who you can, and get going. When the fissure opens, oblivion will take care of the rest.”

“Take care of the rest?” asked Adamast. “Mortar, you’re talking about killing.”
“I’m talking about taking a huge risk. It’s possible they’ll end up in the Eternal Realm alive, and become the gods’ problem for the short time it takes to deal with them all, but unlikely. Please, old friend, this is my choice. Let this one be on me, and me alone.”

“I’ll see you on the other side of Halah’s door. You’ll seal this thing right and it’ll be another week for us, right?”

“Probably not. I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to perform a simple child’s spell when I’m done here, let alone escape. Good bye, old friend. I wish I could have fought by your side one last time.”

“Mortar? Mortar!” Silence followed. Adamast’s legs came close to collapsing under her weight. She wiped a tear from her eyes and ran for The Escapist.