Alto wound the silver necklace around his arm as the floodgates opened again. The Vice Claw disappeared back into his left arm and he took a deep breath. To suppress the Vice Claw while it was shut off was kind of an odd thing to explain. There was no real 'feel' to it but he sort of just knew when it worked. There certainly were a lot of things no one could explain about Epics, and even throughout all of the years they'd been around most of those questions never got an answer. Nowadays though, those questions didn't really matter when it came to situations like this. It was a mystery how something like the Swarm could've come into existence, but if left alone they'd be done with the city block once you were finished trying to figure it out.

He released the Vice Claw once again, normal size this time. His preemptive strike was good, but he was no where near finished yet. The Vice Claw grew again, but nowhere near as large as last time. Flaming claws gripped the edge of the building, and Alto drew back catapulting himself forward. The Vice Claw's strength worked like it was completely separate from Alto. If he started pulling something rooted to the ground he'd end up pulling himself instead, which worked wonders for moving vertically. It also launched him pretty well.

He was aiming for the impact crater he had made right in the center of the swarm. It was a risky move, but with his abilities, he was pretty sure he could make enough time for the other Epics to come through or for someone to fish him out if he was too deep. Just before he landed he hit the ground with the Vice Claw, clearing out a little bit of space amongst the charred bodies.

Ash swirling up from the heat, wild snarls and shouts filling the air, he felt strangely at home. The Swarm rushed in to collapse on him, and Alto drew the Vice Claw back around his body to protect it from any projectiles coming his way. The Vice Claw grew and fireballs formed over the tip of each claw as the enemies started drawing closer. One more flame formed in the palm of the Vice Claw signalling the end of his preparation.

Just as the first Swarm Rat got close enough to jump, he unleashed his attack. In one smooth motion he swung the Vice Claw in a huge circle around him, instantly incinerating any Swarm Rat in the way of the Vice Claw, and releasing each fireball in a different direction. The flame in his palm released as the Vice Claw swung creating a large vortex of flame. It wasn't an actual vortex, as in a vortex that could actually suck people in kind of vortex, but it still put out considerable heat and the Vice Claw's speed helped it to suck the air out of everything nearby.

The fireballs exploded when they struck the Swarm, and the vortex would keep raging for another couple of seconds. With a little more work, Alto could keep it going for longer but the thing was Alto needed to breathe, and even now it was like there was only heat in the air. His attack would've destroyed a fair amount of the Swarm from the center but those on the sides and those who ran away from the center in his initial attack would be relatively unscathed. He also hadn't touched the Rat King at all, in a few seconds he'd be in a tight spot.

Now would be a perfect time for someone else to make a dramatic entrance and the fight could start for real. Otherwise he was going to have to burn his way out by himself.