43 Fight! 6 There's a Second Phase!?

A/N: Final map update :)

============

Looking at the trio in front of me, I can't help but lament that maybe getting Tiamat out of the picture skewed the balance of the fight a little bit more than I first realised.

Really, I thought that doing so would lead to a long and close battle, but from the time Tiamat's powers shut down to all the heroes being out of commission must have been less than a minute.

Still, I have no regrets. If I am to die here then I will die happy, having just witness the greatest show of my life.

Not that I am simply going to lie down and die, but escaping from the two capes in front of me will certainly not be easy.

Oh, and I guess Merlin is here too, but he's kinda weak so I don't bother thinking about him.

Perhaps sensing my reticence, Cu Chulainn gives up on trying to intimidate me and instead crouches down to eye level, giving me a rather intense look.

"You've had your fun, haven't you? What purpose is there in leaving Equaliser to die? It's not like you will be able to see anything that comes of it, so in these last moments of yours, could you please just do something nice, and tell me where my friend is. Please?"

Moved by the honest plea and the vulnerability he is showing, I can't help but review my actions with guilt and remorse and decide to do my best to atone by telling him what he wants to know.

...Heh, as if.

Instead of any of that, I smile as I start talking, making sure that my tone is as mocking as I can make it as I do so.

"Gee, if you insist, fine then.~ Though I hope you're a good runner,~ cuz I'd give him, ehhh, about, half an hour? Something like that, I don't know what the time is. But last I saw him he was in pretty bad shape~ I don't know who hurt him, but I'm sure it was deserving~ either way, he has less than an hour left if he doesn't get treated.~"

Without any warning, I am suddenly eating tarmac as a strong hand smashes my head into the ground hard enough to crack the ground and shatter my mask.

Luckily, I still had my backup masks and as they are cloth rather than hard, they don't shatter.

Which is good considering that without being given a chance to say anything, my head is hoisted up and then slammed back down again.

Then a few more times just for good measure, until the ground is caked in blood and my face is deformed and broken.

Ow.

Pulling me up by my hair, Cu brings our faces close together as he breathes out a single demand through gritted teeth.

"Tell. Me. Where he is." He says with incredible intensity, not even commenting on my maskception.

With a smile on my freshly healed face, I give him his answer.

"Corner of Hawthorne avenue, the house with the blue roof." I lie.

It's not like he can tell after all, so I just said some random location that is about thirty minutes away by car.

The truth is that the loser is probably already dead. After all, he only needed to be alive long enough to convince their comrades to try and save them.

"Run fast~ time's running out.~" I mock as Cu lets me go and gets to his feet, turning to his companions.

"You two check on Bathory, then go find where the fuck Sieg is and meet me back in the usual place." He orders before turning to me.

"As for you. Well, it's like you said. You're already dead."

The moment he says that, I burst forth with all of my speed, all of my tails forming behind me to push me even faster.

The chains binding me break easily, as they didn't use the super tough restraints on account of my cooperativeness.

In less time than it takes to blink, I am upon Cu, intending to kick him away and make a run for it.

Only for him to sidestep my kick with ease and then drive his arm straight through my chest, obliterating my heart.

Suddenly impaled, I freeze and look down at the arm piercing me and feel a globule of blood rise up my throat, only to be coughed up inside of my mask, splattering my face with blood.

Huh.

Then, again without saying anything, he rips his arm out and grabs me by the leg, picking my body up in a dizzying movement only to 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘮 me back into the ground with incredible strength, shattering every single bone in my body.

"You regenerators are tough, but you always have limits." I distantly hear him saying before the next think I know is his boot descending upon me.

𝘊𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩

A field of beautiful and familiar red flowers that I now know to be spider lilies greet me.

It takes a moment for me to gather my bearings and understand what is going on before it hits me.

"Am I dead?" I ask no one in particular, not really all that surprised when I receive an answer anyway.

"Unfortunately not dear." I hear from behind me.

Turning around, I am greeted with a familiar sight.

"Mom. You look well." I greet, ignoring her apparent opinions on the fortune of my continued life.

"Thank you. A shame I can't return the sentiment." She teases, making me smile as the tension in my shoulders that I didn't even know was there relaxes.

"So, I'm not dead?" I ask, making her roll her eyes.

"Not yet."

"I distinctly remember Cu's boot coming down on my face, and I'm pretty sure that means my head is going to pop like a grape." Is my dry response.

"So? You'll get better."

Huh, well that's good to know.

"Cool, but that doesn't really explain what is happening right now. Why are you here? Last time it was to berate me." I ask, not quite pouting.

"I'm here to berate you of course." She says with saccharine cheer.

"Of course." I blandly echo.

"Say, do you even know what your power is?" She asks, confusing me for multiple reasons.

"The part with the tentacles and super strength or the part with the fucked up genie in the shape of my mother that doesn't actually even grant wishes?" Comes my biting remark.

"The former." She says without missing a beat.

Sighing to myself, I resign myself to just going along with whatever fever dream is happening right now.

It worked out well enough last time after all. If it ain't broke and all that.

"My power enhances my body and gives me tentacles of freaky blood muscle, while also making me eat people." I answer, feeling like a kid getting called on in class.

𝘚𝘪𝘨𝘩.

"You are a smart girl Lusia, you really are. So 𝘸𝘩𝘺 is it that you seem to choose to be such an idiot?"

I just shrug my shoulders at her accusing tone.

"Dumb people have way more fun than smart people. Besides, what have I done for you to call me an idiot haah?"

The both of us just stare at each other in silence for a moment.

"...Ok, apart from kinda but apparently not dying. But that was for a good cause do it doesn't count!" I quickly defend my reckless actions, as I am fully willing to die for my entertainment.

Shaking her head at me, my mom walks closer to me and cups one of my cheeks with her palm. I don't do anything to stop her.

"Your power is so much 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 than you have realised. If you'd just pay a little bit of attention to it, you would have realised as well." She says, confusing me as I try to think about what she is alluding to.

She interrupts my thoughts by continuing her own words.

"You have been limiting yourself. You think of your power as just the tentacles, not even considering it taking any other shape. You are holding yourself back. Haven't you been feeling your back 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦?"

I have, for a while actually, my back has been itching like crazy but I've just been ignoring it honestly.

"Stop holding yourself back. Just let it all go. Let everything out." She says, like the whispers of the devil.

Deciding to trust her, I do as she says.

I feel deep within myself, into that metaphysical well that I draw from to manifest my tails.

I feel it, feel what is contained within me.

Then I simply relax.

I stop controlling it, stop trying to keep it in line or bounding it to any particular thoughts.

I just let everything go.

For a moment, I bask in the warm feeling that spreads through my being, like being enveloped in a warm hug, but a million times better.

Then, I open my eyes.

...

𝘊𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩

Watching Boss splatter the little psycho's skull across the road might just be the most satisfying thing I have ever seen.

The only thing that could have made it better is if it was me who did it, but I'm not picky.

After checking her pulse to make sure she's dead since you can never be sure with regenerators, Merlin and I watch Boss rush away, heading for Equaliser as fast as he can and I can only hope he makes it in time.

"C'mon Cat, let's go see if Bat has kicked it or not." Merlin says, dragging my attention away from the corpse as he tries to help my mood with levity.

Unfortunately, I can hear the grief in his voice just as well as I can feel my own.

As we walk over to Bathory, which just happens to be where the remainder of the Street Saints have gathered, standing around Dynamite who is nursing a bad arm, one thought comes to the forefront of my mind.

What a shitty day today has been.

𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬!

Both of us still at the cracking sound that reverberates through the empty street, only to be followed by even more cracks mixed with a disgusting squelching noise.

Slowly, almost but not quite fearfully, we turn back to the source of the noise.

There, where Tear lay broken and dead, we can see clearly as her body rapidly puts itself back together, flesh bubbling and growing as it fills in the gap where her heart was as well as rebuilding her entire head.

It is disgusting to watch, yet compelling in its own morbidly fascinating way.

Only, it doesn't stop.

Even after her body is rebuilt, her flesh keeps bubbling, keeps growing.

Strange, chitinous-esque armour flows and wraps around her torso, shaded an obsidian black tainted only the slightest bit by hints of a purple hue. It continues to grow, as her recognisable ribbons burst out of her back, now numbered six, still pulsing with that eldritch purple mixed with the red of fresh blood.

Then, as if that wasn't enough, a massive, thick tail of mulched flesh pushes its way out just below the ribbons, easily as thick as her body, until it stretches to five feet away from her and suddenly splits itself into dozens of tiny tentacles, each a small part of one whole.

Too shocked by the sight, none of us move a muscle as she continues to grow, the chitinous flesh growing over her arms until they are hulking, dragging on the floor beneath her, each arm as wide as her waist and topped in vicious looking claws.

Then, the creature before us leans forwards, hunching itself from where it now stands, facing away from us, as from her back, a pair of crimson and purple clouds of cackling energy 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘴 its way out of her back in some twisted mockery of sprouting wings.

The creatures new limbs start swaying and dancing around, like a scorpions tail they sway about, as if they are exploring a new environment, testing the limits of their manoeuvrability.

A few moments pass in silence as we all collectively gape at the horror before us until I decide to take action, planning on putting it down for real this time.

Only, as soon as I take my first step, each of the abominations new limbs 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘪𝘭 followed by stilling completely.

Then it moves, straightening itself out for a moment, only to tilt backwards, as if it is going to fall over.

Mid way through it's fall however, it catches itself with it's multitude of tails, it's arms laying uselessly by its side as it twists its head diagonally, making a horrible cracking noise like it's breaking it's own neck just to look at us.

When I finally do see its face, I watch as its blood pours over it, hardening to form a pure white mask that covers it's face without any openings.

That is, until the lower half of the mask cracks open, transforming into a maw of razor-esque teeth, already dripping with saliva as a too long tongue lolls out of it's mouth, hanging off from the side of the mask.

"𝘿𝙤𝙉'𝙩 𝙔𝙤𝙐 𝙜𝙀𝙩 𝙄𝙩?" It says in a distorted, dangerous voice that sends shivers of genuine fear down my spine.

"𝙇𝙞𝙁𝙚 𝙄𝙨 𝘼 𝙘𝙄𝙧𝘾𝙪𝙎. 𝙞𝙏'𝙨 𝘼𝙡𝙇 𝙟𝙐𝙨𝙏 𝙢𝙀𝙖𝙉𝙞𝙉𝙜𝙇𝙚𝙎𝙨 𝙀𝙣𝙏𝙚𝙍𝙩𝘼𝙞𝙉𝙢𝙀𝙣𝙏."

With that chilling statement as a signal, it 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴.

-----------------------------

A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

My god, this boss fight has a second phase!!

Don't worry, the fight will finally end next chapter... hopefully.

God I hope it ends next chapter.

(5+)Advanced chapters with the links below!

pat/reon.com/user?u=41732867 (get rid of the first slash)

or

https://ko-fi.com/bored_works

Also, join the discord!

https://discord.gg/Pj3Dttwses