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A Hero Tale {Complete}

~ Chapter 215 ~

_{Alvios Returns!}

"Looks like I'm here just in the nick of time, though. You guys were really hard to find through the darkness."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

'I'll do what I can, blup.'

"I am not going to walk to my death. I will be the shield that saves this world, and many others. The shield that protects our many blades." Yzeira glared at Zios as he stepped forward, while Alexis slowly walked over to her old friend's side.

"This will finish it."

"Your words are more hollow now than ever before."

"The vacuous spaces within your empty heads are more hollow than you claim me to be."

Yzeira slammed his hand against the ground with a heave and a grunt. From the impact point, a massive wave of crashing red energy roared out and launched towards the group of heroes. Zios stood his ground and straightened his stance.

"Heroic Bulwark."

Zios' body flashed with strange energies for a moment. Then, it grew. It grew and grew until it was half the size of Oz's Atlas, all in the span of a second. Then it braced itself, projecting a barrier between Yzeira's attack, and his precious friends. A brilliant flash of purple, pink, blue and red splayed out in all directions, away from Zios as his barrier absorbed the impact of the chaotic attack. It lasted for a few seconds, pushed his feet back towards Jenso and the others.

"Whoa," Jeff muttered, "That's one hell of a power-up."

When the attack was over, Zios' form shrank almost immediately, even smaller than he stood before. He breathed heavily as energy seeped from the poorly patched holes in his torso. Yzeira on the other hand, stood with his hand overhead, readying himself for another wave.

"Admirable that you have the capacity to withstand the full breadth of my power..." He narrowed his eyes and flexed his right arm overhead. "...Once..."

"I..."

Yzeira repeated his attack from earlier once again, launching a wave of energy identical to his earlier attack. Zios was spent. He couldn't move at all, let alone summon his bulwark a second time. But within his body, a flash of energy erupted, and pushed him to his feet.

"I will not falter!"

'Zios! If you push yourself any further, your body will come undone!'

"Then with it, I will bid farewell without a single regret!"

~FSHEWWWWWW~

It happened too quickly to register. Jeff looked on in awe while everyone else stood silently as the red wave of energy was split down the middle and dispersed by a flash of light.

"I...It's...!"

"Oh man. That took a lot longer than I thought it would."

Yzeira took a step back as a smokey rip in space time slowly sealed itself back up, and a brilliant figure stood in its place. Alexis glared at the newcomer angrily, clenching her fists with a great deal of malice.

Alvios spun around a few times, and then finally smiled at Jenso and the gang with a small wave.

"Sorry I'm late. Took a wrong turn somewhere along the road."

---

~ End Of Chapter 214 ~

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Zios took a step back and the spike in his chest faded. 'My body could only absorb so much of his energy. He waited until my meta barrier was weak enough to fully penetrate.'

'How!? That's just cheating!'

'My Ki reserves are nearing their limit...'

"How I wish I could read the disappointments that plague your simple minds. It is a magic that I was never privy to." Yzeira clapped his hands together and several more spikes erupted around Zios, impaling him several times over. "This one's body is-"

"Easily destroyed! Get it over with! Ka..Uff.." Alexis almost choked on her own shouts, coughing up a bit of black smoke. "Quick!" Yzeira grunted and glared at Zios while still repelling both Jeff and Bruce. Alexis fell to her knees coughing heavily, but he didn't falter.

'We can't give up yet! Blup, any other ideas?'

'Zios' body is losing its tangibility. He will be dead soon. Jeff's Ki is already tapping into crucial reserves, even if he isn't showing it. Bruce has little energy to spare, and Jenso's Meta energy has not yet been perfected - He's out of stamina as well! Not looking good. calculations to account for Shaidra's abilities are worthless without the power to go along with them. We cannot overwhelm Yzeira's mind without power. But Alexis is...'

Just then Jeff's undamaged arm was nicked by a sliver of red energy as he tumbled through the swarm of attacks. He crashed into the ground and rolled towards Jenso, stopping at his feet. "Ack!" Bruce dodged another series of spiked narrowly before retreating back to where Zios, jenso, and Jeff were gathered. Zios breathed heavily as the spikes in his body disappeared from sight.

'i can give us time.'

'Zios? No! Do not waste energy for time! Jeff pushing himself has already slowed down significantly! If you exceed your limits with meta energy, there's no telling would could happen!'

Yzeira, without another word, ceased his attacks for a moment. Then, he rose one hand above his head and began to amass energy at an alarming rate with every last shred of his focus.

'There's no other choice. I'll overload my body. I'm sure that I can at least halt his attacks for a short while if I focus all of my power...' Zios stood tall and sealed his wounds poorly with new layers of rock and flesh.

"I am our shield. Shields are not meant to be hidden away. They are meant to protect."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Yzeira saw it coming long before Jenso fired his attack. Blup accounted for this, of course. He would have had to focus his efforts either way, and dropping his defense of Alexis would have resulted in an even higher chance of victory for the group of heroic fighters. So he waited for the attack to launch. But instead of stopping his counter assaults, he stood his ground and focused on keeping himself and Alexis safe.

"Research note-"

Alexis stopped in place and rose both hands above her head. A spiral of smokey energy whirled up from the ground immediately surrounding her and flew up towards the dragon's head, slowing it significantly on impact like a supporting pillar slowing the fall of debris.

"-Meta energy is neither infinite, nor all powerful. It is merely an agreement with the void born under unique circumstances. The ability to harness void energy by changing it into another form of energy entirely. Direct control over the void would grant a truly infinite supply of energy that could overcome anything. Harnessing the void would be absolutely impossible under normal circumstances. However..." A surge of darkness overtook the giant dragon that crashed down towards the battlefield until it turned from blue to purple. As Alexis spoke, Jeff and Bruce refused to let up on their assaults, but were still stopped at every junction.

"If something is born under unique circumstances, if something is allowed to exist made entirely of void, how would that impede on the calculations? Positively."

The roaring attack born of flames and meta energy collapsed in on itself and disappeared with an echoing puff of smoke. Alexis knelt down to compose herself briefly afterwards and chuckled.

"Results on the body may vary."

"Excellent theory." Yzeira's eyes flashed as he knelt low and swept one hand upwards. A giant spike of energy erupted from the ground at Zios' feet and penetrated his chest with a resounding crash, sending tendrils of crimson energy through his body. "I expected Shaidra to be an astounding leap in my research once her consciousness equalized. Something none of my other test subjects provided, not even Rajaka. I see it as a divine bonus that you returned so vividly, un-intoxicated by the void that overtook you."

"Strong memories."

"Like Nexus, but-"

"Less naive."

The battlefield went silent for a moment.

"And, well, still alive."

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread

A Hero Tale {Complete}

'of course, if he brings down his field, we no longer have a time limit to deal with. But Zios' abilities are strong enough to repel Yzeira's attacks that would usually occur without any prompt through the fabric of time-space. Zios' can only take so much punishment though, so our time limit hasn't changed. Fortunately, Jenso should have just enough time to unleash his attack.

My analysis of Jenso's abilities make something vividly clear, something that allows this plan to have even the slightest chance of succeeding...

...His power is almost on par with Yzeira's! Jenso's harnessed an incomplete form of meta energy all on his own! And with it charging for long long while Yzeira has had no time to channel his own energy to counteract it, he'll be forced to spend at least 2 seconds doing absolutely nothing in order to stop it! And that's all the time that Bruce and Jeff need. In that time frame, the two of them will take out Alexis and Yzeira in one final blow!'

Jeff, Bruce and Zios nodded to themselves, waiting for their plan to come to its conclusion. It was going to be close, but they had a chance.

'Our chance of success is 73.5227%! Launch your attack when ready, Jenso!'

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread

I for one am excited to try out spider-dude 4: The return of those idiots that dress up like animals.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Yzeira hesitated for only a moment before focusing his gaze on Zios. It took only a moment for Blup to relay his plan to everyone using his relay though.

'Yzeira's power is superior to anything we have other than Bruce's Order Slicer. That is the only way we can harm him now that he's stopped holding back. The goal is simple. Get that sword to strike him! If it even grazes his skin, his abilities will be sealed for long enough for us to finish him off! I don't know if it will work on Shaidra, though. She is capable of teleportation in an instant, but my analysis of her magic is minimal. It's clear that she must be close to whoever she wishes to teleport, so we must pin her down. However, if she can see an attack coming, it will simply phase through her body. With Yzeira covering her, this makes the two of them together a nearly unbeatable force.

We have an ace up our sleeves though, blup. Jenso's attack has annihilated Yzeira's tattoo and its abilities. Once our ace is revealed, we'll have the opportunity to strike.

First Zios...

The information popped into their heads in less than a second like magic, as if they'd known the plan all along. Zios lowered his body and rose one hand.

"Meta-Black hole!"

From his palm came a sphere that grew and began to absorb the red energy that flooded the arena. Suddenly their battlefield was made safe, as all the newly generated energy was nullified by the orb of energy. Yzeira looked up at it and immediately began to focus his efforts on destroying it.

'Just as planned, he will destroy it in seconds. That is all the time we'll have. None of us are fast enough to react. Nobody except for Jeff, blup!'

Jeff nodded and dashed across the battlefield, aiming to strike shaidra from behind while Yzeira focused on the orb.

'Of course, he will prioritize Shaidra's safety. So far, we can assume that Yzeira has the capacity to maintain his shield, this massive aura, a series of attacks to keep Bruce at Bay, and just enough power to launch beams like the one that Zios shot. My analysis of his brainwaves at that times showed his upper limits! He is not omnipotent! Normally he could swat Jeff away easily, but the speed of his thoughts are not faster than Jeff's inherent physical speed...'

Jeff, with Blup's predictions, dodged a series of explosions that blocked him from striking Alexis just in time. Alexis turned around to notice the occurrence, but couldn't react.

'...They're almost equal, but just barely! Alexis cannot react to Jeff at all, so if he continued to bombard her, Yzeira will have to draw focus away from dismantling Zios' black hole! Since it is a complex form of meta energy he is not familiar with, he will have to consciously decipher its physical makeup, rather than simply destroying it! This alone should keep us safe for 10 seconds, at least. If Jeff can keep Alexis occupied, with his attacks, Yzeira will have to dedicate a great deal of his thinking power to keeping her safe! Fortunately for us...'

"Speedy little bastard! Destroy him! Destroy him now!"

'...Alexis does not want to die! She will not tell Yzeira to stop! While all this is happening, Bruce will likely still be under siege, but between him and Jeff's attacks, he won't be able to focus on killing Jenso at all, unless he drops the aura on the battlefield. Fortunately, Zios' black hole will detect that!..'

"He's bringing it down"

Yzeira conjured a series of spike to keep Bruce at bay, while constantly firing off instantaneous explosions to keep Jeff away from Alexis, who herself was keeping at eye on Zios, Jenso and Bruce.

'Phase one of our plan is complete. Yzeira's mental capacity can be suppressed with our combine efforts! Now fighting him will be like fighting a person with normal thought speed! At this point, Alexis is still a danger, but Jeff's attacks have her emotionally unstable. Zios will begin to attack her as well...'

Zios began to launch a series of multi-colored lasers towards Alexis, only for them to phase through her. She immediately focused on him and began to counter-attack with her black smog, and magical bombardments of her own creation.

'Which gives Jenso an opportunity to charge an attack capable of covering the entire battlefield over the next 5 seconds...'

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Jenso's spear evaporated on contact with Yzeira's shield this time around, and the mist began to sink into his skin, restricting his movement slightly. Jeff's nano-bots began to reform a new arm for him, which turned into a slick-looking gauntlet of sorts shortly afterwards.

"I don't want to admit it, but I feel pretty low on energy already."

"I won't last much longer myself."

"Stand back."

Alexis jumped back away from Jenso, fading away and appearing beside Yzeira.

"You shouldn't have to fight any longer."

Yzeira rose his hands slowly and began to focus energy, aiming it towards where Jenso stood. Despite his attempts to move however, the mist from earlier quickly paralyzed him in place. The sheer focus of Alexis' void control was enough to immobilize him despite the power that welled up inside.

"You've done enough."

A stream of energy erupted from Yzeira's hand at top speed. Bruce tried to move in its path to stop it with his blade, but several spikes blocked his path. Jeff did the same, launching a focused sniper shot towards it, but dealt no damage to the attack. It seemed like Jenso was finished.

"I won't let you."

The ground in front of Jenso shattered as a large being that he hadn't seen before emerged with a barrier to intercept Yzeira's attack. The beam broke through and hit him dead center, sending him sliding back to Jenso. He stopped inches in front of him and held his ground until the beam was spent. Zios, Oz's new form, turned to greet Jenso with a blank expression. "You cannot break our resolve." Just then, Jenso would feel his body regain control. Although Alexis' void was powerful, it couldn't restrain him for long.

"The meta-beast that fought Zelriane."

"Who cares?" Alexis cut off Yzeira, "Kill it, don't contemplate the possibilities!"

"..."

"That's the plan! That's the formula! Stop thinking and just do!"

'I'm ready, blup blup!'

A Hero Tale {Complete}

"By that logic, I suppose that I'm also a figment of your collective imagination? Hah!" The blue energy stopped behind Jenso and turned into an orb before exploding with a great deal of force. Yzeira, from afar began to launch volleys of energy at both Jeff and Bruce. Jeff activated his one-with-wind transformation and bolted out of the way, while Bruce used his windboard to do the same.

Jeff's body appeared behind Yzeira and he stabbed towards his back. "A little slow, aren't-" He weapon snapped against the man's barrier and the chaotic energy began to climb his arm. Jeff was forced to eject his gauntlet as it faded away to nothingness. "Oh. Well. Crud." Bruce appeared in front of him and swung his anti-void blade at the man's shield, but stopped half-way through his swing as a spike of red energy nearly pierced his heart. He retreated as several more spike appeared out of thin air in an attempt to skewer him.

"He's too fast. Even if I were to sacrifice myself, I don't think I'll be able to get a clean hit in. Without my Ki, this blade is nothing more than a length of cold steel."

"I must stop falling into the trap of my own hubris," Yzeira Muttered. Suddenly Jeff's right gauntlet was destroyed by a random explosion of energy that had been gathering in his arm.

'Blup! Keep your focus high! If Yzeira's energy gathers in one of your limbs for long enough unnoticed...'

As the explosion faded, Jeff's right arm was revealed to be completely gone.

'...It can be lethal!'

"Otherwise my aim will always be off its mark."

'Focus your ki to stave off his more focused energy!'

Crimson power began to gather in both Jenso's left leg and his right shoulder. Bruce felt it in his head, but surged his ki upwards to expel it before it could explode.

"All this while he's maintaining this field and launching off tangible attacks. This is impossible."

"I may have been much more reasonable than him, but Teshra has always had a more brilliant mind than I or Nexus. My biggest regret was not acknowledging it back then..." Alexis rose both hand and launched a wave of smokey black mist at Jenso from his front.

'5 more seconds!'