Skip.
-jumps around-
Skip.
-in a series-
...Why am I picturing that one
Bleach meme of 'Teleports Behind You'.
Skip.
-of tremors and eruptions of-
Skip.
-dust, sort of as intended.
See, if it were me, I'd be leaving behind some explosives, if only to distract him a moment longer.
"Teleportation? I wonder how good your-"
Skip. Prepare needles.
"-reflexes are."
Who needs reflexes with programmed combat commands?
Well, that must have hurt him.
I back off through the air, scanning for Vidor. Good to see that x-ionised needles can pierce viltrumite skin. I wasn't completely sure about that, and I couldn't really test it. Sonic pulse and electromagnetic scan shows that they… Pierced his skin and that's about it. There's a little blood, but it's more like what a sharp needle would do to a normal person's skin than a 'this sword could cut Superman in half' wound. I suspect that the only reason why he cried out was a combination of surprise and the fact that one went into his eye.
And even the eye isn't a guaranteed permanent bit of damage, depending on how strong his healing is.
I mean, that's more than anyone on Earth managed to do to Omniman. Heh. Maybe I should have gotten involved. But-.
Vidor's stopped moving. With the clouds he threw up he's having to concentrate to find me… Hearing, probably. The optimal time for a sonic attack, but none of the sonic weapons I know about are anything like powerful enough to cause a viltrumite more than mild irritation.
Don't get cocky, kid. You didn't have any of these tricks back then.
A construct wouldn't be so limited-. I guess I could fake manipulating sound waves directly.
I raise my hands and the dusk buckles, clouds shooting away and giving me a brief view of blood squiring out Vidor's ears. Then he sees me and move!
One drawback of that sort of thing: it makes quite the breeze. And when you're depending on the mist for cover...
Agh! Pain killer! And teleport, not-!
Skip.
...Being exposed can cost you an arm and a leg.
Yes, argh, like that. Ough, my-. Right arm and part of where my shoulder should be just got.. torn off! Repair that and maintain vigilance while he tries to work out where I've gone now.
"An interesting move." I scan upwards until I find Anissa. "You've managed to injure him, and removed his ability to hear me if I try to call him off."
Bet it was quite the show from up there. Whole continent-sized masses of clouds getting distorted by Vidor's movements...
Radio only. And build a railgun.
"I communicate intent more than words."
"I doubt that he'll tell Nowl-Ahn that."
If only out of embarrassment over being played so well.
"Did you lose something, human!?" Vidor has hold of the largest intact piece of my arm and is holding it aloft. Because he doesn't know that I can heal myself. I'm not sure of Omniman or Invincible have made a formal report about me, but if they have then Vidor hasn't bothered to read it. "If you take it from me, your chirurgeons may be able to reattach it!"
Ah, the classic mistake. Underestimating the 'weakling'.
"Still, you have surpassed my expectations." The railgun takes shape in my hands, and I load x-ionised needles. "I feel less humiliated to have been assigned you as my mate."
Aim assist. Target the hand holding my arm.
Heh. Hasn't really internalised the idea that he doesn't have to hold the gun, has he? honestly, a few hundred free-floating railguns would have been better. Though that kind of fusillade might be more in the Illustres' skill range.
Adjusting for wind and air resistance. Fire.
Skip.
What happened?
I'd say he felt it coming. Good thing you're got auto-dodge on.
Keeping my eyes on my surroundings and on Vidor, the ring replays-. He… Saw the railgun round, evaded it and traced its trajectory back to-.
That would have killed me if he hit me.
Very lucky to not have become chunky salsa right there.
Okay. Good to have that confirmed. Ah. I deafened him but he's powering through it without the ability to hear. He's looking around more to compensate. He'll heal the injury faster than a human, but it should last for the duration of this fight.
The dust is starting to settle.
To be fair, a lot of people wouldn't be able to heal that at all.
Charge railgun. Full automatic. I need to kick up more dust.
Fire.
Taking advantage of his enemy's new weak point. Smart move.
Four rounds hit the ground before he notices and moves. Not towards me, he just speeds in the direction he was facing. Some of the dust is blown away, but I think he's mostly doing it to get far enough away for a clear view.
Move and shoot.
Yeah, if he can see you, he'll kill you.
Dozens of needles fired, but he's got room to dodge around them as he turns and flies b-.
Skip.
I don't think you're going to have the same success now that you did earlier, Matthew. Gonna need something sneakier.
Back at what I hope is his actual full speed, because apparently their control of inertia extends to momentum and he can turn on a sixpence. I-. Oh, he.. can't judge depth quite properly with one damaged eye.
So what, then? If… That's the fastest he can respond and fly, then I can predict his most probable flight path. Which means…
And in a fight like this, a predictable enemy is a enemy doomed to fail.
Plot course up. Fabricate electromagnetic containment vessel. Cross fingers very hard. Twist the matter inside the containment vessel until it becomes anti-matter. Triple check the magnetic field before withdrawing my environmental shield. Add a flight system to the vessel and drop it off. Float behind it and fire and cross my toes-.
Impressive level of focus. Evidently wanting to not die makes for some powerful constructs.
Skip.
Below me the skies of Venus roil with the force of the detonation, untold billions of tonnes of atmospheric gas moving away in a visible wave!
Yeah, Vidor isn't coming out of
that without a tan. Also, just
picturing that is amazing.
"What did you do?"
Anissa is now floating a short distance from me, looking… Curious?
And possibly turned on. Better ready you body, Matthew...
"It's not just matter than I can rearrange. That was anti-matter. Perhaps a bit too much force, but I felt that if he was going for kill shots then it was probably alright." I try scanning for Vidor but I'm not really getting anything helpful. Based on Omniman's observed feats he could have survived, but viltrumites need to breathe and I'm fairly sure that he didn't have time to take a breath. "Is that sufficient for this spar? Ah, and should I try recovering him? I wasn't able to test-. Mpg?"
Well, I guess you can add something else to the 'effective against viltrumites' list: Anti-matter grenade to the face.
Anissa's tongue enters my mouth so aggressively that my teeth snap backwards, forcing me to disintegrate and replace them as she-. I can feel my bones cracking-. Reinforce! Embraces me with far too much strength for the human body! I try-. Kissing her back while also trying to reduce the pressure on my jaw before it's torn from my skull and I'm bloody glad that I was still suppressing my ability to feel pain.
Goodness, he is going to have to replace his bones with adamantium or something just to survive her.
After entirely too long she pulls back, looking pleased with herself.
"I have decided that your reward for winning will be the privilege of choosing our posture the first time we mate. I will choose on all other occasions. For your sake, you had better have stamina."
Fortunately, as long as his Ring charge holds out, he's got stamina aplenty...
"Tech-." I restore the damage I just received. "Technically, I have infinite stamina."
"Good. You will need it."
You know she's going to
test that now, Matthew. Get used to rebuilding your pelvis...
