Mob 5.15 (Preview of Final Draft) (Pre-Beta) (Patreon)

Mob 5.15

                                                              – o – o – o – o – o – o – o –​

The sudden meeting of fire and wind was as loud as it was forceful.

-119

-27

-53

Aerokinesis (Adept) Lvl Up!

9 → 10

Resistance: Heat Lvl Up!

48 → 49

Greg Veder knew this much for a single short instant as the wind sphere he had instinctively formed to shield himself buckled, protecting him from the immediate overpressure wave, only to shatter like an egg in the wake of everything that followed after it. For a single instant, he hung there, vulnerable as explosions and chaos dominated everything he knew. The knightly cape didn’t even have time to blink before the frenzied pressure wave struck him hard, a crushing swell of heat, sound and force. His eyes widened as his already-battered torso was jarred by the invisible blow and for a single second, his vision disappeared behind a starburst of pain. 

When he opened his eyes again, the world around him was a tempest of fire. Even with his hearing muted, every single sensation in the firestorm seemed to rattle his entire body on a level past the physical, roaring flames and screaming wind as he processed it through the senses that both his aerokinesis and pyrokinesis provided him. It was a new type of pain, one that was entirely unwelcome.

Thankfully, it rendered him far too insensate to allow him even an instant to fully conceptualize how much he absolutely fucking hated it.

Fully lacking in physical feeling for those first few moments of raw sensation, it took Greg Veder just as much time to realize that he was flying through the air, having been hurled backwards the instant Lung’s blast of fire had met his overly-pressurized sphere of wind. The buildings closest to him collapsed, windows erupting with force as the pressure wave demanded the glass contained within them to give way. It had picked him up with ease, throwing him into the onrushing wind as if he was nothing more than an errant leaf. The sword in his grip threatened to do the same, nearly tugged from his hand by the sudden force but Greg held tight, hand glowing blue as he drew upon another skill to keep it in place.

He toppled head over heels further back, his uncontrolled flight shifting his gaze just in time to catch Lung in a similar predicament, wild streams of fire – each one several dozen feet at the smallest – pouring from his maw with every roar as the draconic villain was thrown back himself.

It was almost enough to make Greg laugh.

Almost.

-61

Whatever humor was on his mind was quickly wrenched away as the young cape’s sudden flight came to a stop.

Or, to be more accurate, a repeated series of stops. 

-28

-31

Greg couldn’t help but make the internal correction as his reinforced back and spine met the wall of some already-dilapidated building for the third time in less than half as many seconds. The blond shot through the first crumbling wall hard enough that his neck snapped forward with a sound that he hoped was either from the wall or his imagination. Either would have made him feel much better, for a given amount of better. 

-85 (Critical Hit!)

-21

-10

-12

Debuff: Cracked Ribs (6) – 4 Hours

Resistance: Blunt Force Lvl Up!

68 → 70

+ 1 VIT

It was only sheer luck that his sword hadn’t somehow ended up impaling him already, Greg managing to hold it firmly away from the rest of his body as he was launched backward, and what little part of him could focus thanked whatever real or fictional entity that might be listening for that small mercy. He opened his eyes for a second time as he twisted in the air, regretting the action immediately as another wall quickly rushed up to meet him. This one, he had the misfortune of meeting face first; both mouth and eyes suddenly filled with drywall dust and other unpleasantness. The next two came much easier, his momentum nearly drained to the point that he barely felt the repeated spikes of stabbing pain that were his ribs being introduced to building material. A crumbling structure it may have been; nevertheless, it still hurt like hell.

-9

-6

-2

-1

-1

-2

-1

-1

It was a second or two more before he mercifully met the ground, head spinning as his body rolled across the floor, a multitude of dusty boxes in his path that only served to slow him down more, the impact against them not even registering to him. It was a dazed and confused Greg Veder that grit his teeth as he forced himself into an near-expert roll, inherent agility and ingrained acrobatic skill guiding him through instinctive motions.

Acrobatics Lvl Up!

28 → 31

Even still, it was an extended hiss of pain that left the young man’s lips as he finally managed to halt his forward motion; knees, legs, arms and every other part of him launching some form of protest as he flipped himself upwards and back up to his feet far more quickly than certain parts of him appreciated. Greg stumbled back, almost tripping over nothing as he tried to regain his balance. He stabbed Gram down into the stone floor of the dark stockroom he had found himself in, the golden blade sinking into stone with almost no resistance as its wielder gripped the hilt like a cane for support with suddenly shaky hands.

Son of a- A near silent grunt of pain tumbled from Greg’s open mouth to follow the pained hiss from earlier, new sources of pain and discomfort making themselves heard now that the teen had finally found his feet. His helmet suddenly felt several sizes too small on his skull as his head simultaneously pounded and rung like a bell in a church tower, much the same way his breastplate felt like a vise around his chest. His eyes struggled to focus, brainpan still reeling from its many impacts against uncaring buildings, bursts of light nearly as bright as Lung’s flames doing their express best to leave him at least half-blind.

Letting go of his sword, Greg stumbled back again, free hand scrambling out to grip the edge of a half-toppled metal shelf leaning back against a cracked back wall. With some measure of stability returned to him, it was all he could to blink away the spots in his eyes and focus on pulling himself together. 

For a single moment, he felt like the old him – just Greg – , awkward and ungainly, half-huddled over and already bruised up as he hid from someone bigger and stronger with no one to help… not that they could if they wanted to, Greg acknowledged. There were very few capes with both the body and the outfit that could handle this sort of situation; this all-oppressive heat that Lung put out as simply as breathing. 

Armsmaster definitely wasn’t one of those capes and, while his armor could survive Lung’s heat, Greg severely doubted his skin would last all that long before it began to slough off in thick chunks beneath his suit. Miss Militia was a woman with a gun, Photon Mom’s forcefields wouldn’t save her eyeballs from drying up in her skull and, as far as Greg knew, Glory Girl’s luscious head of hair was as flammable as any other. Truly, he was alone.

He sighed.

The morose moment lasted just that long and Greg Veder forced the image away as he shook his head, returning his focus to the part of him that called himself Prodigy. Greg blinked again, idly calling up his Inventory with a silent thought and waiting a moment for two already-peeled hard-boiled eggs to drop into his open palm, one thick piece of unwrapped jerky following right after them. Not the best but I’m out of PowerBars anyway.

Hard-Boiled Egg 

Not the most eggciting meal.

+3 to HP every 10 seconds for 5 minutes.

Expires in 00:01:25:32

Big Daddy’s Jumbo Jerky Stick

Go ahead. Enjoy Big Daddy’s meat.

+5 to HP every 15 seconds for 30 minutes.

Expires in 01:15:33:19

He shoved the first two into his mouth without a moment's hesitation, nearly swallowing both in four rapid bites before quickly going to work on the third item. Okay… okay. Plan. Need a plan. Let’s plan. First… what do I know? What do I know about Lung?

As his jaws worked on the jerky, he could feel the pain in both his head and chest subsiding somewhat as he let the food items work their proverbial – or maybe literal – magic on him. I know Lung heals. That one was a given, as that was one of the most obvious aspects of the villain’s powerset. No… not healing. Lung regenerates. A better distinction, Greg mused, noting that simple healing wouldn’t account for the type of recovery Lung was capable of; both in sheer speed and capability. Simple healing wouldn’t have restored the eye that Greg vividly remembered carving out with a wind slash a little over a week ago. Lung gets bigger the more he has to heal, maybe?

It was a question, yes, because despite Lung being a local threat for roughly two-thirds as long as Greg had been alive, no one was really sure of the inciting factor behind his transformation. As far as anyone knew, even the PRT had no idea. And if they did, they certainly weren’t the type to broadcast that type of thing to anyone not under their authority. No, Greg shut his eyes, lips parting slightly to mouth the word. Capes that have fought him before barely did any  real damage and he still got massive, so that can’t be it. The more I hurt Lung, the stronger he g-. 

The faint sound of roaring broke its way into his thoughts and once again, Greg fought the urge to wince as sweat dripped into his right eye, hair already damp to the point that uncomfortable couldn’t even describe it. It was made even worse with his head enclosed in the medieval-looking helmet Sparky had added to his costume, a piece probably scrapped from a costume store. Even makes it hard to breathe, kinda. 

The heat was seriously no joke, that much Greg could attest to; the fires raging through the front part of the store only adding to his struggle. He could feel the damage it was doing to him, his costume only faring slightly better with the fact that both his reinforcement and a perk of his own keeping it in once piece.

Like virtually everything else about Lung, it was a major upgrade from the last time.

Even as Lung roared from the outside, Greg didn’t bother moving yet, simply closing his eyes as he pushed himself to focus again. Hurting Lung makes him stronger. But it’s not a perfect power. Otherwise he wouldn’t have run before.

It was a common thread with Lung’s public appearances in Brockton Bay. While he had effectively bulldozed the entire Protectorate in his early years, there had been several instances through the years where he had been forced to retreat from a fight against several other capes, both villains and heroes, despite none of them being close to Lung when it came to power, speaking realistically. 

Maybe… Lung is older now so his power is weaker than it was ten years ago? He ventured the thought hopefully, expression lightening for a moment before almost immediately shooting it down as his smile inverted itself on his face. No. He ramps up. That wouldn’t exactly work. Hell, he’s ramping faster than he has in a long while. Growing a whole four feet in five minutes? His frown deepened at that thought, almost gritting his teeth as he gave the problem more thought. No, not weaker and definitely not slower.

Okay… He allowed himself to venture another possibility, willfully ignoring the sound of Lung’s tantrum even as the sound began to edge closer. His power’s not perfect. So, he takes damage but he needs to be able to heal the damage quickly enough that he can get stronger from it. Greg’s eyes opened up suddenly, vaguely remembered battleboard arguments suddenly in the forefront of his mind. Lung’s power ramps down outside of a fight. Which means that he needs to heal quick enough that he can still fight. But… he heals so quick anyways. Any cut I give him is already healing by the time I land another one. And last time...

He swallowed the last of the jerky, frustration easing as he found himself on the path of what some would term a solution. Last time… last time I put everything I had into one hit. And he went down. But I had Lady Bug handling DoT with her bugs and all that poison definitely kept Lung off his game with constant debuffs. His head tilted forward, bobbing slightly with an almost imperceptible nod. I gotta do the same so THAT even if he gets stronger the longer he fights, the more he heals, the more he gets hurt... or all the above… No matter what, he still can’t fight the same if he’s trying to handle those.

Which means that fighting just to bring down his HP is the wrong move… A smile burst to life behind his somewhat crumpled helmet, grimy face lighting up with relieved laughter as Greg found himself with the answer he needed. “I’ve gotta break him.”

A sound caught his ears as one gauntleted fist landed firmly in the palm of another, the distinct clink of metal on metal lost in the wake of a another ground-shaking roar that seemed far too close even with the ringing fog that held supremacy over Greg’s sense of hearing. Blue eyes visibly widened as the blond realized that what little time he had was basically at an end. 

Okay, planning time over. Time to move. He nodded to himself, the action shifting to a sudden shake of the head as he pulled his sword from the floor and dismissed it to his inventory, before taking several slow steps back. He retreated cautiously, taking enough time to be careful with his steps so as not to make much noise until his back met the wall behind him. Knees already bent, Greg slowly tilted forward and lowered the rest of him to shift his center of gravity. His Reinforcement spiked to its maximum output, the energy focused on his lower body as the teen stared straight ahead at the several holes he had flown through, one after another visible in the light of the flames from just outside the windowless storefront. 

A pocket of aerokinesis formed at his back, a mass of air taller and wider than he was packed with enough air pressure to send a large vehicle airborne if ruptured. It wasn’t exactly what Greg wanted, but it would have to do.

For now.

Body near humming with unreleased power, the young cape allowed himself another smile, unable to help himself at this point. Taking down Lung for good wasn’t something you did everyday, after all. The ground-shaking footsteps came closer and closer, Lung’s volume increasing in time with the ambient heat surrounding Greg. He grinned savagely despite the added sweat pooling on his brow forcing him to blink the salty liquid from his eyes. Oh yeah, he’s close.

As quickly as the grin appeared, it suddenly vanished as Greg blinked in confusion. The sound from Lung; charging footsteps, the angered bellow that seemed to be the villain’s calling card, the jet-like roar of flames as they were given new life from the dragon-man’s attention…

They had stopped.

All of them.

The only thing remaining that could be attributed to him, Greg noted with a unsteady frown, was a low rumbling growl that, while undoubtedly Lung with his gravel-like vocal cords, seemed far too loud. Far, far, too loud for something as simple and understated as a growl.

Far too loud. Blue eyes widened for the third time as the blond realized something. Okay, so he’s almost right on top of me. I need to get out of here nownownownow. His Danger Sense seemed to be in agreement with him, if the pulse he could now make out over the ringing in his ears and the pounding in his skull was anything to go by. 

Okay… Greg held himself still, not even breathing as he kept his senses locked firmly on the fiery outside of the half-burnt and crumbling building. His eyes and ears waiting for a sign of their own, the blond kept half his focus on his Danger Sense, just waiting on the alarm before he risked throwing himself out into the open again.

The relative silence stretched out for far too long; the sound of Lung’s rumbling breath, crackling flames and the creaking of the building around him louder than anything else in the world as he focused what remained of his hearing on them. 

Lung shifted suddenly, powerful muscles slamming against the ground with mammoth force. The reverberations shook Greg’s hide-away at the same moment Lung let out another roar, challenging his opponent to face him and die.

The very same Greg’s Danger Sense blared a warning.

[Burst!]

-40

His already maximized Reinforcement multiplied to new heights as Greg Veder took one powerful step forward. The golden light concentrated in his lower body flared a bright, bloody red for a heartbeat as the marble floor suddenly cracked under his feet, a spider-web of fissures forming in a fraction of the time it would take someone to blink. The mass of pressure behind him erupted as he forced the side facing the wall to suddenly give way and all three floors of the building suddenly groaned as it was once again met with a level of force it was not designed to weather. The building around Greg shattered as he launched himself out of it uncaringly, unrelenting air pressure impacted against already crumbling brick, mortar and plaster, each one shattering under the stress almost immediately. 

Reinforcement (Apprentice) Lvl Up!

24→Max

Reinforcement (Apprentice) → Reinforcement (Acolyte)

Reinforcement (Acolyte) Lv 1

Enhance your physique to new levels, your body and soul working in tandem.

Reinforcement imbues you with the efforts of the physical aspect of your soul given form, pushing your actual body to heights it might never had reached otherwise. Increases your effective strength and speed by 200%. Improved control means that weaker usages of Reinforcement is within your grasp for lower costs.

Cost: 5 Will/s

Subskill: Burst

Cast from hit points. Yeah, it's one of those skills.​

A short, yet extremely concentrated and focused burst of reinforcement applied to the extremities for an insane burst of ability lasting 2 seconds.

(x 3 top Reinforced SPD/STR)

Cost: 25 Will, 50 HP

Subskill: Layer Reinforcement​

To improve on an item is to improve the very soul of it.

Increases the quality of non-living items, increasing their sharpness, durability, and hardness. This form of reinforcement can be used on non-living substances for a multiplier of ten.

Aerokinesis (Adept) Lvl Up!

10→11

All right! Greg didn’t even notice the further destruction he’d left behind him as he shot out from the collapsing structure fast enough that he visibly strained from the sudden acceleration, face pulled back into a half-smile, half-grimace as he was launched into the air as if from a cannon. I’m out. I’m flying. What next? was the first thing that popped into his mind, the young cape already drawing on his aerokinesis to slow and reorient what could only be termed his flight path.

A pulse. 

A roar. 

A sigh.

Why do I ask these questions? The knight-themed cape didn’t even have a moment to even look at his attacker, relying on his instincts as he forced his body into a mid-air spin with arms raised in a defensive ‘X’ to shield his face. Not a full second later, he was glad he did.

It was like staring into the sun behind half-closed eyes, a sudden flare of yellow light that seemed to touch everything despite being so far from it all. A shining spear of condensed flame – the blast no wider around than a grown man, compared to Lung’s usual massive blasts – lanced past him and roared off into the sky, the edges of the blast not even touching him as it passed several feet away from his body. Much like the sun, though, distance was for the best of all that witnessed it.

-88 (Critical Hit!)

-21

-11

-2

Debuff: Second-Degree Burn (Arms) – 1 Hour

Resistance: Heat Lvl Up!

49 → 52

Greg Veder opened his mouth in a soundless gasp, unprepared for the single moment of raw heat. His mouth, lungs, eyes, skin; every single part of him seemingly lost what little moisture remaining as Lung’s blast threatened to set the very air on fire. Worse than the thick cloying smoke already stinging his eyes and making his throat feel like gravel, the blast had managed to sear his flesh even without touching him; his gauntlets and chestplate partly melted from just that alone.

His face was a rictus of pain, Reinforcement only doing so much to mitigate the express sensation of being broiled alive and bearing the wounds for such. As much as he was screaming and cursing his head off on the inside, Greg could only form his throbbing hands into shuddering fists and react the only way he knew how.

A platform formed under his foot for a fraction of a second as he forced himself into another flip, and the exact moment he was perfectly upside down was the very same that Greg Veder kicked off of it, launching himself straight down and far away from the effective radius of another of Lung’s sun blasts. 

-62

He blinked away the red notification in his vision, wincing as the harsh touchdown made his calves burn from the sudden impact. His knees buckled, shaking beneath him for a few seconds and threatening to give way as they met hard asphalt even with a healthy amount of Reinforcement keeping them strong. A sharp pain plagued both of his joints, Greg forced to shift his body weight almost as soon as he landed or risk greater injury. His head jerked up almost immediately after that, pain fading quickly as shock blanked out everything else in his mind. Holy hamburgers, he’s huge.

Greg suppressed the urge to let his jaw hang as Lung’s already massive forelimbs bulged in size again, looking out of place even against Lung’s impressive eighteen feet. The sudden shift in mass sunk them deeper into the bubbling tar pit that was once asphalt beneath his feet, the villain roaring loud enough that the noise felt almost physical. For a moment – with his oversized torso, outrageously huge forearms and general gait – Greg couldn’t help but liken the villain to a particularly scaly gorilla.

Then, with a sound that might have been half that a roar and half again a groan,  the nubs on his back exploded outwards with a sickening crack and a spray of blood and flesh that almost instantly vanished vanished in the scorching heat surrounding Lung. Massive spears of gore-covered bone jutted from the villain’s shoulder-blades, each one rapidly growing in size and segmentation almost immediately as they appeared. His spine stretched outwards grotesquely, the half-baked growths of bone and red-tinted flesh literally exploding outwards as bat-like wings sprouted into full bloom; each one bigger than Lung himself was. 

Jesus H. Christ, why is he so goddamn big…? No. Not the time. Greg Veder was already moving before he shook his head, running as fast as he could towards Lung’s partially hunched-over and groaning form, not willing to waste this moment out of something as stupid as shock. He couldn’t let Lung grow any bigger, not if he expected to be the one to end this. He had a plan, of course.

It was a shit plan and likely would go wrong almost immediately, but it was – by some definitions, at least – a plan. The way Greg saw it, this whole situation wasn’t a fight so much as it was a dominance display for Lung, the villain wanting to fight him one on one for more than just kicks. It had to have hurt his pride, his reputation, everything that mattered to a guy like Lung, to lose to some rando no one had ever heard before. Especially when that rando was a kid. To counter that, Lung had to display his dominance by utterly wrecking his opponent in a way that no one could doubt who was stronger. 

To beat him, Greg would have to fight fire with fire.

In this case, quite literally.

“[Fire Dragon’s A-Aura!]” The scream from Greg shifted from a raspy gasp to a perfectly clear shout mid-sentence, fresh oxygen suddenly filling the teen’s airways as opposed to the smoke and soot that had been slowly choking him. Even the heat had lessened around him from what he could feel, the once oppressive and oven-like conditions now more like something out of a sauna. A smile crossed Greg’s face as he spared a glance at the orange-red flames wafting off his body, the expression cheerful for a moment before shifting into something only described as predatory. He glanced back down at Lung, a whim suddenly coming to the forefront of his mind and Greg indulging it almost instinctively. Observe.

Lung Lvl 145

Overlord of the ABB

Title: Dragon King of War

HP: ??????/?????

Status: ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???

As the mighty Dragon of Kyushu, Lung has tangled with the CUI, the Protectorate and the Endbringer of Water itself, Leviathan. A suicidal opponent to face for even the most veteran of heroes, Lung gives no quarter and holds no real standards of honor, only interested in appearances and being in power. He is here to kill you, with as much of an audience as he can manage. He will not stop until either of you are dead or close enough because he would rather die than lose twice to a child.

Observe Lvl Up!

16→ 18

That predatory smile drew back in on itself, gaining a rather unsettled tinge as Greg found himself shuddering at both the level and all those question marks, desperately hoping they weren’t what as bad as he feared them to be. Before he could dwell on his suddenly renewed sense of caution, a pulse at the base of his neck caught his attention and the teenager sprung back into action, focus returning. Mana Platform! 

Mana Platform Lvl Up!

4→ 6

He flung himself forward and up, a small pocket of air exploding from behind and launching him over Lung’s massive form as well as a wave of fire that threatened to roast him alive. In between breaths, both Lung’s and his, he summoned his weapon back to his right hand, biting back an angry scream as the villain raised his head to shoot him a molten glare. “MOTHERF-”

“Language, foul beast!” Greg shouted out, voice carrying again as he slashed out with Gram from a distance, blades of wind glinting against Lung’s armor. Some of the more powerful ones actually bit into his scales, exposing oddly patterned and reddish flesh and creating gashes and gouges where they could. “There are children watching!”

Twisting to avoid Greg’s razor sharp-slashes and weathering those he couldn’t, Lung’s long, sinuous body moved with a speed and grace truly alien to his size, the massive villain seemingly gaining more and more grace the longer he stayed transformed. Even down to one leg, he clearly didn’t let it bother him much, the giant scaly asshole doing his very best to act like he didn’t weigh at least a ton.

Greg himself was never motionless or in the same place for longer than an instant; springing, side-stepping, whirling, twisting, he offered a constantly shifting yet near-untouchable target for Lung’s teeth, claws and flame. At the same time, his own straight blade sang death as they carved through glistening silver scales.

Lung tried his best but he couldn’t exactly make himself any smaller of a target.

It remained rather insane, though, that out of all the crazy things that Greg could think of about a man that literally turned into a dragon; from his four jaws to the crazy-fast healing or the fact that his blood managed to somehow literally boil inside his own body, what truly stuck out most in his mind was just how agile the giant silver fuck managed to be when it really mattered.

Lung was no match for him in that category, of course. Greg was literally flitting in and out of the villain's range like a particularly determined mosquito. 

A mosquito holding a needle enchanted with +7 Fuck You.

Even so, despite Lung’s current sheer bulk, the way he could almost manage to keep up was still an insane thing to witness. Kinda like watching an elephant perform a gymnastics routine, it just didn't look right.

Roaring, Greg launched himself towards a struggling Lung, the villain struggling with a chunk of the muscles in his right leg shredded to the bone. The heat spiked, yellow flames gaining a blue tinge, and Lung lunged.

Greg drew back instantly, almost dancing away from the bestial leap, as he shifted around the villain. Raising his sword to counter, he could only click his tongue and give what Lung had tried a mental shake of the head. Sloppy. 

It was, really. Sloppy was the only way to describe the move. Pouncing forward with a half-healed leg had robbed Lung of the momentum he would have needed to even try to surprise Greg, especially know that the younger cape had gotten used to how the villain moved.

Smile already wide across his face, the young cape brought his sword down and continued to respond the best way he could. “[Raging Combo!]”

Forty slashes.

Forty.

In the span of less than five seconds.

Swordplay: Single Blade Lvl Up!

28→30

Raging Combo Lvl Up!

13→15

Shallow swings that with a normal sword and on anyone else would easily bisect a man tore into Lung as Greg darted around and across his body, bouncing around as best he could before Lung could gather his bearings. He should have been nothing but a blur. 

Should being the operative word.

By the twelfth slash of his sword, Lung's glowing orange eyes had shifted before the rest of him, narrowing in on the source of the golden glow that was Gram as it tore into his regenerating body, streaks and sparks of gold light trailing behind the blade.

By the twenty-fifth, the villain was already in motion.

Slow motion, but moton nonetheless.

Less than three seconds, Greg noted to himself, the number lodging itself firmly in the back of his mind as he retreated away with a reinforced leap, narrowly avoiding Lung’s powerful stomp as he both cratered and melted the debris that remained in the general area where Greg had stood.

Even with his body reinforced to the maximum that Greg could manage, moments like that were far too common as the villain managed to react to his movements, various attacks like that coming far too close for comfort on multiple occasions.

Multiple.

If the armored boy had his math right – and he was pretty damn sure he did – he had to have been darting all over the area with speed surpassing that of an Indy Car, albeit one with far superior acceleration.

Yet Lung persisted.

It was a sense of determination that Greg would have admired. At least, if it originated from nearly anyone other than the mini-kaiju trying to tear him apart and burn the pieces to ashes.

“AAAAARRRRGGGGGGH!”

The roar was followed up with a blast of flame equal in both height and width to a mid-size sedan and a stream of thick, almost gelatinous flame. It was met with a whirlwind from Greg, the blond doing nothing more than spinning his free arm before letting a small tornado fly from the action, both dissipating as Greg bounded from location to location.

Aerokinesis (Adept) Lvl Up!

11→13

A pained roar accompanied the villain’s rushed attack as he spun almost one-hundred and eighty degrees, tail sweeping viciously towards the smaller cape as it once again made the air crack with it’s approach.

Gram let out a near-audible hum as its wielder flooded his will into the Reinforced weapon, a sound that might just have been his imagination, and swung out the flat of his blade. His free hand, clad in a half-melted gauntlet, forced up the other side of the blade with his palm and almost pushed it forward to meet Lung’s tail lash. A mass of spikes was turned aside with a deft parry, Greg’s amateur attempt at half-swording helping him accomplish the task, and he struck back. It was with a laugh that he nearly spun the glowing sword in his grip, simply flicking it with his wrist to add some force, and shaved off several feet from Lung’s fifth appendage before the villain could recoil it.

Swordplay: Single Blade Lvl Up!

30→32

Parry

13→17

Dashing forward as Lung processed the sudden loss, roaring piteously, Greg let out of a roar of his own and launched himself forward at Lung’s unprotected back. “[Dash Straight!]”

The sword made contact with a not-insignificant burst of light, Greg rocketing past Lung with a spray of steaming, foul-smelling blood as Gram tore through the villain’s left knee, a massive chunk of flesh and scale gone and what was left barely hanging on by a few thin threads of muscle and blood-drenched flesh. 

Swordplay: Single Blade Lvl Up!

32→33

Dash Straight Lvl Up!

12→15

“By the way, that’s called an avulsion!” It was with that comment he let out a laugh that was far too guttural and raspy to sound a thing like himself. “I hope it hurts, you worthless lizard!”

A limb as tall as Greg himself was and twice again as wide slammed down on the exact same spot where Greg had been, the knightly cape dashing away in a surge of boosted speed. Lung roared wordlessly as a flame-wreathed hand dug into the ground, fire spiking in intensity and bringing the tarmac to a boil in seconds under his furious, unrelenting aura. Greg launched himself forward again, a trail of golden light and an explosive mass of air enough to fling vehicles in his wake propelling him at high speeds. 

Lung did the same, a blast of flame propelling his still-shuddering body forward in a fiery imitation of Greg’s own method. Danger Sense pulsed a warning he didn’t need, Greg’s eyes widening slightly as a set of vicious, blazing claws rushed to tear him in various different pieces. 

He didn’t even have it in him to be surprised, Lung’s sudden crippling making him much slower than he had been just moments before. Another platform formed under Greg, the thing shattering into its constituent near-translucent particles the instant he leapt off it. Glowing orange eyes met Greg staring back with a determined expression, the world seeming to slow as he passed over Lung’s pouncing form.

“Dash Straight!”

Where Greg had once soared upwards, he now dropped like a stone, the golden light brightening for an instant as the sword in his hands was enhanced by yet another use of the same Skill. He paid no attention to how his seared arms screamed in pain at the moment of impact, his knees begging him not to repeat the action as he slammed down onto the ground finally. 

No, the only things he bothered to pay even the slightest bit of attention to was Lung’s glorious scream and the sound of three pounds of steel cleaving through the thickest part of the villain’s wrist. A spray of blood hit him the instant before he leapt back and several meters away, Greg nearly wincing before the liquid evaporated against his armor, steaming away with a smell that he would rather forget. 

Swordplay: Single Blade Lvl Up!

32→34

Dash Straight Lvl Up!

15→17

Mana Platform Lvl Up!

6→ 7

+ 1 STR

This was the new goal, the plan he should have gone with from the very beginning. He couldn’t try meeting Lung hit for hit anymore. Letting Lung set the pace of the fight was basically signing your death warrant, after all. Hell, the fact that he had previously rushed in to fight Lung without even so much as a coherent plan had not been the smartest idea...

No, being honest, it was most likely one of the stupidest things Greg had ever done.

It was right up there on the list, he could admit that much.

Right up there with the first time he had faced Lung without a coherent plan, probably.

Most likely right next to the time where he had tried to kill Oni Lee while already bleeding out and almost dead on his feet. Again, none of these had been the greatest of ideas but…

Okay, there was no but to that.

Trading blows with a titan like Lung, even before he was this big, was simply a more complicated form of suicide. Most capes, fighting him one-on-one would have been a charred meal half a minute in with no way to actually damage the villain. Greg didn’t have to worry about that as much, though, as he had force multipliers to match the massive meathead.

His sword, his skills, his status…

From a pure stats perspective, Lung might have been an absolute monster but Greg knew for a fact that this was a monster he could bring down.

As long as he was careful, at least.

Lung’s stump of a right arm literally writhed before Greg’s eyes, the gory bleeding mess bubbling up with flesh as the thing tried to heal. Lung suddenly took to the air on those massive wings, beating his sixth and seventh limbs with enough force to buffet debris in a windstorm and fan the flames on the ground even further. He reared his head back in another roar, individual words and curses lost beneath his own incomprehensible voice as he hovered above the plaza. As blood poured from his mutilated limb in steaming gouts, Lung lashed back out at Greg the only way he likely believed to be free of a counter, an focused blast of yellow-orange flame tearing out of his maw towards the ground.

Greg’s breathing deepened, shifting to a near-wheeze as he literally felt the heat from the blast as it neared him; not on his skin, but somewhere else entirely. His eyes widened, a thought coming to mind and before he could brush it away, Greg was already in motion. “No, you don’t!”

The blond spun on his heels and pulled at a feeling deep in his gut, still screaming the very last syllable as he swung his arms forcefully in Lung’s direction. The blaze shuddered in mid-air as the entire thing seemed to invert on itself and in under a second, the powerful eruption reversed direction in mid-air, swallowing several other newly launched flames from Lung and moving faster even as it grew. 

“Not done!” Greg swung his fist, a mass of air rocketing from his relatively tiny fist with intense speed, only to impact against the last reflected burst of flame moments before it struck Lung.

An instant later, they both hit home.

Pyrokinesis (Basic) Lvl Up!

13→17

Aerokinesis (Adept) Lvl Up!

13→14

The surprise on Lung’s face as his own flames rebounded on him would almost have been comical if it wasn’t also fuel for a thousand nightmares, the villain’s long serpentine neck flailing as Greg’s final wind-enhanced fire blast exploded against his upper chest. The ground shook as Greg fought to keep his footing with [Surface Adhesion], the ground vibrating under his feet from the power of the sudden flare and a plume of smoke, soot and fire exploding upwards from the epicenter of the blast. Rocks and rubble sent flying blazed like red hot meteors past Greg’s vision, some even melting to slag.

-4

-5

-8

-3

-11

Surface Adhesion

11→12

Resistance: Heat Lvl Up!

52 → 53

Greg rushed forward with Gram held out in front of him, tearing across the burning shopping center with speed that left him at best a vaguely glowing blur. With Lung wide open, he wasn’t going to waste his opportunity. Lung seemed to be of the same mind, the airborne dragon-man opening his maw to release another swirling blast of flame far larger than even five of Greg put together.

The armored cape was ready before he had seen it, bursting forwards and diving into a roll. A single moment later, he leapt again, this time straight up towards Lung’s flying form to avoid what was now a series of blasts from the unrelenting villain roaring above him.

Lung tilted his head to the side, serpentine neck seeming to coil like a spring, before suddenly lashing out towards Greg with all four jaws open wide to receive him. Greg swung out with a fist as Lung dove to catch him with his open maw, an explosive blast of wind forcefully batting the villain’s head aside. 

Another translucent platform solidified beneath his feet and he exploded off of it and directly towards Lung’s open and unprotected torso. “[Weapon Charge!] [Raging Combo!]”

It had to be said that there were certain moments that Greg couldn’t help but feel like Gram was more than simple metal when he used it, the very essence of the sword shifting from its raw materials into a blurring crescent arc of auric majesty, especially when he let the beautiful blade swing for all it was worth. [Burst!]

-40

Each slash was performed almost as fast as the actual thought, Greg's health dropping as he forced his Reinforcement to spike again, the sensation of [Burst] still making him feel like it was rending his muscles apart every single time he used it. For all he knew, it actually was and he just didn’t know it, his power not deeming it important enough to inform him of it. [Burst!]

-40

The wind screamed even louder on Greg’s behalf as his sword tore through air, scales, flesh and muscle with barely a pause. Red mist splattered from Lung, powerful veins releasing their pressure into the open air. Amplified even further at the cost of his own health, Greg grit his teeth and fought through the pain as much he could, raising his voice to match Lung's roar as he just kept cutting. [Burst!]

-40

Mana Platforms were created and destroyed en masse as Greg ping-ponged off each one of them like a sword-wielding superball, moving so fast he could barely even keep himself in the directions he had planned on. It was a burst of speed he only poured more of himself into, his screaming voice that of pain and anger to drown out Lung’s as his body protested the red glare he forced himself to weather. He was a blur of red, he knew that much, bursting off each hastily prepared platform as they shattered around him and left each gash in Lung’s chest sparkling brightly for a few seconds. 

Throughout all this, he never stopped screaming and swinging his sword, a fearsome frenzy of storming steel and raging energy repeated five times over. 

Raging Combo Lvl Up!

15→18

Weapon Charge Lvl Up!

18→20

Swordplay: Single Blade Lvl Up!

34→36

Acrobatics Lvl Up!

31 → 33

The last cut tore across both of Lung’s massive legs with as powerful a rightward slash as Greg could feasibly manage, Gram screeching as it slid through layers and layers of super-dense flesh and armored scale. 

Lung struggled to keep himself in the air throughout the barrage as his wings flared, multiple wounds rushing to heal at once as the villain found himself overwhelmed by the onslaught. As Greg’s razor-sharp rave came to an end, Lung attempted to take that moment to escape, flaring his aura to ward off another attack, but Greg still wasn’t done.

“[Dash Straight!] [Weapon Charge!]”

With Gram in a two-handed grip, Greg brought the blade down on Lung’s shoulder as hard as he could manage, glowing metal meeting superhuman scale and flesh with enough force to make his arms buckle. 

They didn’t.

Weapon Charge Lvl Up!

20→22

Dash Straight Lvl Up!

17→19

Shining metal cut through layers upon layers of both scale and muscle with ease, only halting  as it met bone, the entirety of the blade almost invisible with Lung’s shoulder for the single instant before Greg tore it free and stabbed it deeper into the villain’s body. The weapon sunk into his shoulder blade this time, Greg’s legs and thighs hugging tightly to Lung’s body with [Surface Adhesion] as Lung thrashed and bucked in the sky above his hellscape, new wings beating like mad. Lung’s corona burned hot, but Greg found himself ignoring the slight melting of his armor in lieu of stabbing at Lung over and over like a man possessed.

-16

-12

-14

-2

-5

-7

-2

-8

-3

Surface Adhesion

12→13

His own pain not nearly as much of a problem as he expected it would be, Greg screamed his own incomprehensible shouts at Lung, scrambling from position to position around the villain’s neck to avoid Lung’s claw swipes and wide, flaming mouth. His skin burned even with his own corona fighting back the heat from Lung’s own, the blood spraying from Lung’s back doing its part to fight the flames in it’s own meagre way as it steamed away. Greg did his very best to assist it as he introduced Gram to the villain’s flesh as quickly as he could manage.

Once again, the blade slowed as it met bone, not quite stopping but making it clear that it would take at least a few seconds for it to make its way through marrow. Seconds Greg didn’t feel like he could afford as he continued to hack at every part of the bucking dragon’s upper body and back he could feasibly reach.

-9

-6

-3

-2

-5

-7

-4

Resistance: Heat Lvl Up!

53 → 54

Lung spun in mid-air, clearly not focused on flying as his neck coiled in on itself in desperate attempts to aim at Greg, the villain trying to blast him off his perch. Ignoring the repeated gouts and streams of blue-yellow flames that threatened to burn him alive as they passed just scant feet away from him. 

Surface Adhesion

13→15

Undeterred, the teenager clung to Lung’s neck, dragging himself up as he plunged Gram in at various points to act as some sort of handhold. It’s time to end this, was the thought that consumed him, Greg gritting his teeth as red notifications threatened to draw his attention away from the fight. Come on, Greg. Just like Demon Souls.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!”

The scream was his – all his – as he leapt up Lung’s neck to grab hold of the back of the villain’s head with one glowing palm. Gauntlet half melted around his left hand, Greg fought the sudden and immediate desire to scream as he held onto Lung’s scaled ridges, the heat from them enough to blister his fingers immediately; the skin sizzling and blistering painfully on contact. 

-16

-9

-5

-4

-3

-1

-2

-2

-1

-2

Still screaming as he hung on the bucking, thrashing dragon for all he was worth, Greg brought Gram down again, the shining blade piercing through the side of Lung’s jaw repeatedly with barely any resistance compared to what Greg had met with before. Lung’s scream was far more guttural and raw than Lung had heard since the fight began, chunks of flesh falling from the Changer villain’s large, mostrous head, a deep groaning noise that only filled the blond teenager with a furious determination to go even further.

Lung twisted again, neck coiling like a snake as he flipped over in mid-air and beat his wings with all his might, flailing and rearing its head as it flew straight up over the burning plaza. [Inventory!] Greg dismissed his sword again, mind racing as he went over another idea and desperately hoping it wouldn’t fall apart around his ears like so many others. He shifted his Surface Adhesion to the soles of his feet, rising to a position that looked more fitting on a surfer than a superhero as he stood up halfway on Lung’s thrashing neck.

Surface Adhesion

15→16

The wind spun around him, blowing in his ears as Lung flew up and down, sinuous body moving in ever-twisting circles as he flared his corona of hellfire to explosive levels hoping to dislodge the determined teen. In under a second, Greg’s armor started to slag from the infernal blue heat radiating off the dragon, his greaves and sabatons melting, burning into his skin. Even as his helmet began to droop around his skull somewhat and the other metal pieces on his person only appeared as vague guidelines as to what they once were – all the cloth having been burnt to embers minutes ago – Greg paid neither that nor Lung any mind as he brought his burned hands together, half-molten metal only making such things even worse, and continued to focus. 

-11

-13

-6

-9

-6

-4

-5

-8

-3

Resistance: Heat Lvl Up!

54 → 55

It took at most of a few seconds before it formed like he expected, Greg having pulled and pulled at the metaphorical well inside him for all he was worth. The whirling wind around him seemed to still before all of a sudden returning to life, streams of blue-tinted air coalescing in the space between his outstretched palms. The movement of air didn’t distract Greg as it all rushed towards him, the thrum of it becoming faster and faster and faster the more Lung moved until…  

“Razor Wind…” It hung there, humming between burnt fingers and half-melted gauntlets, the idea something he had stolen from a previous fight. A bulging sphere of fresh air and death that wanted nothing more than to be set free; to tear and rip whatever the blades inside it met to shreds. Fully in agreement with the idea, Greg let the thing go, screaming as he hurled the near translucent sphere down towards the space between Lung’s wings. “Sphere!”

Aerokinesis (Adept) Lvl Up!

14→16

The noise of a screaming, buzzing windstorm and ear-splitting roars drowned out everything ele and the world around Greg became an ever-shifting downwards spiral. Lung dropped like a stone, spinning down towards the fiery hellscape he had flown above with one of his wings utterly torn to shreds and the other barely more than flaps of bleeding flesh and bone.

Teeth gritted as he spun out with Lung towards the still-burning plaza, Greg resummoned Gram to his right hand and forced the blade into the side of the villain’s jaw, the blue glow of his [Surface Adhesion] and the fire from his [Dragon’s Flame Aura] spreading out over the surface of the weapon. Come on! Letting out an audible grunt, he tugged hard with the sword’s hilt, dragging Lung’s head as he did his best to steer him into the hardest landing he could manage. Come on! Come ON!

The impact was an earthquake, shaking the ground and shattering what few windows remained for nearly half a block around and creating a crater in the middle of the plaza. 

-88

-22

-5

Surface Adhesion

16→17

Greg shuddered with the landing, body protesting even as Lung took the vast majority of the crash. Still, dazed as he was, he was only barely prepared for the seemingly insensate Lung to rear his serpentine neck once more, the villain hurling his unprepared attacker into the burned-out ruin of what was once a convenience store. The attempt was far weaker than Greg would have ever expected from Lung, the blond barely even fazed all that much in comparison even as he was sent through another wall, his third for the day. If there was some kind of quota for this sort of thing, let there be no doubt that Greg Veder was the one meeting and exceeding it with ease. 

-69 (Critical Hit!)

Debuff: Bleeding – 30 Minutes

The blond cape rebounded with skill that only came so easy to the casually superhuman, flipping backwards and onto his feet again without a moment's hesitation as a stream of fire chased after him into the already wrecked building. Greg paid it no mind and rushed back out, his vision half-blurring as he burst out of the half-charred husk of a store to face Lung once again.

Greg Veder blinked.

“Oh.”

Correction, to face a stumbling, weakened Lung. 

The villain roared weakly at the sight of his much smaller opponent, body writhing and steaming as gouts of blood still poured from open wounds. 

It was clear enough that Lung was healing, Greg unable to deny the the bubbling red skin under exposed skin as ribbons of muscle and corded flesh began to knit itself back together. His scales were in shambles, a good chunk of his flesh unprotected and virtually all of that open flesh absolutely riddled with injuries. There were hundreds… no, thousands of them, maybe tens of thousands, Greg realized, of those same shifting threads of muscle visible to the naked eye. Lung’s corded, inhuman flesh threaded among one another like a spiderweb weaving itself into existence, drawing into a tighter and tighter configuration. One by one, they tensed, and a single wound drew shut.

One among so many others.

Even as his wounds slowly healed, a good portion of Lung’s right arm still hung off at the shoulder, no longer bleeding from said shoulder or his stump of a right hand but still a weakness… one Greg had delivered for that exact purpose.

His left knee was much in the same condition, near-stump of a thing in no shape for Lung to be putting any weight on it the way he was, supporting his massive body despite it barely looking like it could manage something a tenth the size. Steaming blood gushed down a back and shredded wings fluttering with barely any support, bleeding even further as coiled flesh stitched itself bit by bit. It would have taken a blind man to miss the weakness on display from Lung and from the simmering anger in Lung’s gaze as he lumbered to keep Greg in his view, he knew very well that was the case.

The only thing that seemed to convey the same level of unhindered strength around Lung was his corona; bright blue and blazing hot. The air around him hazed like it usually did, everything around him possessing a mirage-like quality that was only appropriate for what was basically a dragon.

One more big one. Greg centered himself, sword in a hand as he took a determined step forward. He pointed a single half-charred finger at the lumbering beast over a dozen meters away from where Greg had burst out from, the cheer in his voice only partly forced. Here we go.

“Do you see it, Lung? Can you finally see it?”

Lung let out another deep groan of a roar; one that didn’t give Greg the feeling of pain or even anger, but more of simple exasperation. Anger or not, it didn’t prevent Lung from launching several bright blue fireballs at Greg, the blond taking in a quick breath as he responded.

“Just like the last time...” Greg whirled on his heels, the aura of red-orange flame surrounding his own body flaring as he drew on his pyrokinesis, and, with a single spin and single hand, the batted the first three off into other distant targets, one after the other. “You have to know…”

-8

-11

-3

-5

Pyrokinesis (Basic) Lvl Up!

17→18

“That this fight…” He dodged another, letting it sear just past his head with a bright flash as the fireball struck home not too far behind him while the last, a dark-blue maelstrom of heat, Greg met head on; a curled hand screaming with compressed wind and Greg’s own pyrokinesis focused through his aura-filled right hand tore the thing apart and launched it’s remains back where they came from.

Lung paid the blast even less mind as it struck him, not caught off-guard this time by Greg’s ability to manipulate flames, the much smaller fireball dissipating into tendrils of flame around Lung’s corona as the dragon-man let out another tired roar.

“This fight was mine from the start!” Greg roared back, I mean, I fought in this fight so in a sense... it is mine. Not willing to let the pedantic part of his mind distract from his plan, the cape in the partially-melted armor raised his sword arm – right limb still bleeding rather heavily – tracing an arc in the air as he brought it down again to point towards Lung. 

“Because you see, Lung…” His hands tightened around the hilt of Gram, eyes shining bright behind his helmet as he finally began to say what he had prepared. “This sword of mine glows with an awesome power!”

His fingers trembled from both pain and excitement as he pushed his [Reinforcement] as high as he could manage it, the sword’s edge lit up like never before. “It’s burning blade tells me to defeat you!”

Taunt Lvl Up!

13→16

There was anger now, an audible anger in Lung’s bestial tone, as he squared his mangled shoulders, four-sectioned maw opening up and shaking the air with the force of his deafening roar, one silver-scaled fist scattering the dark tar that was boiled asphalt into the air as he pounded his limb into the ground.

“Take this!” Greg raised his voice again, gearing himself up. “My hate, my pain, and all of my fury!” He rushed forward, each step feeling like one too many as Greg poured on as much speed as he could manage. “Shining!” 

[Weapon Charge!] He raised the glowing weapon as it shifted colors, mind focused as Lung began to move his lumbering form to meet his attacker as well as he could manage. “Sword!”

[Dash Straight!] What was formerly a run transformed into a charge, the air keening as he rocketed forward in a flare of golden light, Greg Veder flooding the weapon in his hands with all the power he had left. 

With a burst of flame beneath him, Lung took to the sky.

[Burst!] With a bust of red around him, Greg did the same.

“...Gram!” 

He lashed out with his sword far faster than he could ever imagine his arms could move, so quickly that even he only saw the trail it left behind. Yet his mind didn’t even consider the speed as something of note, all his attention focused on Lung as the sword neared the dragon-man’s midsection. The villain twisted out, his one intact forearm ablaze with plasma-like blue fire, and clawed out at Greg, obviously expecting to catch the other cape off guard. Lung’s sudden roar of surprise went ignored by Greg as he instead brought the sword down on the closest part of Lung he could reach, still screaming that one syllable.

The world seemed to lose color, everything slowing down to a near-crawl to Greg as he felt the air around him thin appreciably as all the energy he had been channelling flooded into his sword, leaving the rest of him feeling rather empty. A vacuum of air formed along the back end of the blade as it swung down, while a pressurized force more concentrated than anything he could manage with simple air slowly - from his perspective - grew in size along the other, the very air being condensed to power it.

To call it anything less than a thunderous impact would have been minimizing the sheer magnitude of what Gram did as it struck the thickest part of Lung’s arm with a coruscated shockwave of raw, directed force. The villain’s fiery aura vanished the very instant Greg’s sword met his scaled arm, flames blown away from his entire body as if the literal bonfire had been nothing more than a weak candle flame in front of an open window. 

Then, the force…

-56

-78

Swordplay: Single Blade Lvl Up!

36→40

Weapon Charge Lvl Up!

22→23

Dash Straight Lvl Up!

19→20

Greg’s eyes shut instinctively as Gram bucked in his grip, a sound unlike anything he had ever heard before sending an uncontrolled shudder through his bones. He opened his eyes again, teeth grit as pain flared once more in his chest and back as he did so. Straining, he clutched his chest and pulled himself up to a sitting position with a frown, waiting for the pain to subside as it usually did. 

He glanced around from where he sat, the charred still-burning corpse of a shopping plaza meeting his eyes. Greg blinked, staring down at himself with confusion, only to raise his gaze again as he spotted Gram lying on a pile of burning debris just a few feet from him… What? How did I… 

Blue eyes widened and the cape leapt to his feet like his life depended on it, only wasting a single moment to flinch as nearly every muscle in his body flared with some sort of pain in response. Again, he did his very best to ignore that, pressing onward as he glanced around himself wildly.

It only took him a few seconds more to spot what he had been searching for.

The massive body of Lung’s transformed state - or what remained of it, at the very least - lay in the center of the plaza, the bulk of him scattered atop the crushed stone of what used to be a rather large fountain. Greg shook his head, fighting yet another flinch as his neck protested even that much, and simply let out a sigh. Please be dead… or at least, dying, he half-begged anyone that might be listening, retrieving his sword before tentatively making his way over. Is that too much too ask?

As Greg neared Lung’s unmoving form, he realized that it didn’t seem to be too much too ask at all. In addition to all the injuries that he hadn’t had the time to heal yet, - wings, arm, knee and a myriad of other open wounds to areas that were quite likely vital - Lung had sustained yet another in the form of a massive gaping wound, almost as if a giant had taken some jagged spoon and simply scooped out the parts he wanted, leaving the rest behind.

Greg’s eyes widened at the sight of it; the fact that entire chunks of flesh were just gone from something as big as Lung was a sight that he doubted anyone would ever expect to see in their life. I did this, he thought to himself, crackling flames still sounding off around him, the sound of sirens and movement even farther back. I did this to Lung.

The slow, soft smile that spread across his face had nothing at all to do with the action itself and everything to do with the feeling of relief that passed over Greg as he realized that he was almost done with what he needed to accomplish. At least, that was what he told himself as he stared on at his own handiwork, refusing to acknowledge that warmth in his chest.

He also refused to acknowledge the distinct disappointment he felt scant moments later as he saw flesh ever-so-slowly begin to creep it’s way over exposed bone and muscle, the sound of Lung’s near-silent yet labored breathing itself also having nothing to do with the slight frown that threatened to overwhelm his previous expression or the tightening of his fingers around Gram. 

Dragon Slaying Shockwave, huh? He shook his head, letting another smile return as he watched Lung’s wounds slowly, slowly, slowly begin to scab over. It’s literally in the name but nooooo~ Greg Veder let out a long sigh as he felt his will and mana return to him in steady trickles, flicking his gaze from Lung over to the torrent of water blasting down one side of the inferno surrounding him, the siren of PRT vans not too far behind it, before returning his attention to Lung again. 

Another noise finally sounded off and the blond let out a relieved sigh, eyes closing for a moment before he opened them, glancing just inches above his normal line of sight. Fuckin’ finally.

Quest Success!

"A Knight's Duty II: Dragonfall" Completed!

Gained 25 Stat Points

Gained 10 Perk Points

Gained 220000 XP

Gained 5 STR

Gained 5 SPD

Gained 20 VIT

Gained $50000

Gained Trait: [Usurper of the Dragon King]

Gained Item: [List of ABB Holdings]

Gained 5 to [Pyrokinesis (Basic]

Gained 5 to [Resistance: Heat]

Bonus Objective: Gained 10 Stat Points, Gained 5 Perk Points, Gained 110000 XP, Gained $100000, Gained Item: [Lung’s Mask], Gained Item: ABB Master Key, Gained Perk: [Boiling Blood], Gained Item: Dragon Wings (30 ft) x 2, Gained Item: Dragon Tail (7.5 ft)

Level Up x 7! You are now Level 30.

You gained 18 Stat Points.

You gained 2 Perk Points.

Dragon-Blooded → Dragon King’s Blood

Dragon-Souled → Dragon King’s Core

Fire Dragon’s Aura → Dragon King’s Aura

Dragon-Blooded Knight → Dragonbane Knight

Title Gained!

Dragonbane Knight

To hurt a dragon, one must hone their blade till it is sharper than teeth and claws. To survive a dragon, one must temper armor until none but a dragon can pierce it. To catch a dragon, one must run and jump until both are akin to flight. To slay a dragon, one must become a dragon.

+ 10% Physical Resistance

+ 10% Resistance to Fire

+ 20 to VIT

+ 10 to STR

+ 200 to Health

+ 100% Damage against [Dragon]s.

Perk Gained!

Boiling Blood

Hotter than the sun in the middle of July. 

Your blood literally runs hot, very much so. 

It’s honestly rather worrying but at the very least, you’ll always be nice and toasty.

Trait Unlocked!

Usurper of the Dragon King

There once was a man named Kenta, his chosen name Lung and his chosen group, the Azn Bad Boys. This man held the title of Dragon King of Brockton Bay, defeating all challengers with a modicum of effort. Defeating Lung twice has granted you this title and the traits of the Dragon King. Progressing along this path will only grant you even more.

Unlocked Trait: [Dragon King’s Blood]

Unlocked Trait: [Dragon King’s Core]

Dragon King’s Blood

I am the blood of the dragon. Do not presume to teach me lessons.

You’re more than just dragon-touched, now. For all intents and purposes, you are a dragon, in all but form. Your scales may yet be soft skin and your teeth may lack fangs, but that may yet change.

+ 500 HP

+ 20 STR

+ 20 SPD

Dragon King’s Core

One does not need the size of a dragon to have the soul of a dragon.

You’ve defeated Lung for the second time and proved yourself more worthy of the role of ‘Dragon’ than he is. What does that mean, though? 

+500 MP 

+500 Will

+20 INT

+20 VIT

Dragon King’s Aura (1/10) [Ranked Skill]

Bathed in the blood of kings, I shall fear neither flame nor dragon.

At a rate of 2 MP per second per rank, draw upon your pyrokinesis to generate an aura of fire that burns hotter than anything you could normally generate, enhancing all your fire-based skills. Your equipment and body are immune to the heat, of it and anything cooler than it. It is, however, actual fire, so try not to burn down your house. While this is active, you can breathe fire instead of air, in the literal sense, as well as project your pyrokinesis out through your mouth with no harm to yourself.

Perks (New)

Acoustic License

You don't have to be so loud.

Whenever someone is speaking to you within hearing distance, you can hear them as if they were right next to you.

1 PP

Aero-Kinetic

Emphasis on the kinetic.

All wind-based abilities gain 10% increased damage in the form of knockback.

Ambidextrous

Neither a lefty or a rightie.

No damage or skill reduction when using a melee, throwing or ranged weapon in your off hand.

1 PP

Blade Acceleration

I didn’t even see it move...

Any blade in your hand seems to slice through the air with an unparalleled ease and a blurring speed, the edged weapon seeming to hum for some reason…

+50% Attack Speed with bladed weapons

Developed Mind (0/10) [Ranked Ability]

I like to think of myself as enlightened.

Every time you gain a level, you gain an additional 5 MP for each rank of this perk.

1 PP

Growing Will (0/10) [Ranked Ability]

Some people say you're rather willful.

Every time you gain a level, you gain an additional 5 Will for each rank of this perk.

1 PP

High Speed Incantation

What was that? I didn't catch that.

If you so choose, you can say a skill name in the space of about a second. However, anyone listening will hear it as gibberish if you want them to. Otherwise, they will interpret it to be heard as if you said the full thing in real time.

Cost: 1 Perk point

Pulling Out All The Stops (0/10) [Ranked Skill]

Go beyond the limits... Limit Break!

For 1 minute, your Will and MP is unlimited. However, your HP drops to 0 after exactly sixty seconds.

2 PP

Pyro-Kinetics

Emphasis on the kinetic

All fire-based abilities gain 10% increased damage in the form of knockback.

Rabbit of Caerbannog (0/5)[Ranked Ability]

No ordinary rabbit.

You do 10% more damage against anyone who underestimates you.

1 PP

Unstoppable Rage

Rage is a hell of an anesthetic.

While angry to the point of causing a status effect, gain an additional 25% to STR and SPD at the cost of 50% INT.

Might

Strength to Tear the Earth Asunder

Brace for Impact

Grit your teeth and take the hit.

When any knockback-inflicting strike is blocked, you are not knocked off your feet.

Forceful Strike

I’m trying to hurt ya, not kill ya.

Minimizes unarmed damage against targets that you do not wish to seriously hurt, dealing mostly knockback damage that does not cause criticals or one-hit kills.

Invulnerable Knuckles

"MY FISTS, THEY ARE MADE OF STEEL!"

While you still feel the pain, you no longer take damage when exerting your strength against something more durable than you are.

1 PP

Savior's Strength

"Catch me as I fall!"

If you're strong enough to hold an object when you catch it without hurting yourself, you can also catch it without hurting it.

2 PP

Stand n' Strike

"You can come to me."

Remaining in one place, you hit 10% harder against any opponent while taking 10% less physical damage.

1 PP

Strength of the Dying

The more you hurt me, the harder I hit you.

When your remaining HP is lower than 5%, all attacks become critical attacks.

Super-Fulcrum 

"Let me just lift this bus by its rear bumper."

When you lift something that you're strong enough to pick up without hurting yourself, it doesn't matter where you grip it. You can lift and move it as a single unit, no matter how the internal stresses should cause it to break. It might still bend or even flop with movable joints, but as long as you can lift it, it won't break due to how you're holding it. This won't stop somebody else from breaking it.

Celerity

Speed and Dexterity to Outpace Lightning

Anticipation

A focused mind is one that thinks ahead.

SPD is increased by 20% when attempting to block or parry.

3 PP

Evasive Agility

How do you dodge a bomb?

Take 10% less damage from AoE attacks or attacks not targeting you.

2 PP

Perfect Inner Ear

What’s so hard about a tightrope?

Your physical body has improved to the point that even small things, like balance, have increased to the point of perfection, or as near to it as anyone could ever imagine. + 10 to Acrobatics

3 PP

Surefooted

I don't trip.

Allows perfect traction over any solid ground, eliminating the chance of slipping and falling over your own feet.

2 PP

Turn on A Dime

When running or leaping, you can immediately turn or rebound once without losing any momentum or acceleration.

2 PP

Unnecessary Combat Roll

"Unnecessary: (adj.) not necessary."

Whenever you attempt to dodge an attack by rolling or diving, you take 10% less damage if it hits.

1 PP

Wall Jump

Drive yourself up a wall

Whenever you consciously choose to spring up a wall, you instinctively and automatically wall-jump with no chance of falling, excluding external factors.

1 PP

Constitution

A Strong Foundation To Surpass Mountains

Blood Brings Victory

Spit in the face of your enemies and rise up.

Upon receiving a critical hit, gain 5 effective levels to the affected resistance, if possible. 

2 PP

Capegoat 

Their pain is your burden and boy, is it a burden.

Removes harmful status effect from your chosen target by absorbing the negative status, inflicting yourself with a lesser version.

3 PP

Hard Head

I BREAK THINGS WITH MY FACE!!!

All critical attacks targeting your head are 50% less effective while melee attacks made using your head do 25% more damage.

2 PP

Last Legs

Got one more left in me, I think.

After being knocked out once, you recover immediately with a portion of your Health and Will recovered and temporary bonuses to all physical stats and resistances. + 20% Health, +10% Will, +20% to all physical stats (for 30 seconds), +10% to all resistances (for 30 seconds)

5 PP

Mind and Matter

The mind is what separates a body from a corpse.

Meditation now recovers Health at the same rate as Willpower and Mana.

2 PP

Refreshment

Increases the rate of Will/Mana recovery from beverages by 50%.

2 PP

Resilient

Your resistance to Blunt Force damage has grown to the point that you no longer can be stunned or made to flinch from attacks that do no damage.

2 PP

Strong Stance

Your resistance to Blunt Force damage has grown to the point that you can now ignore all knockback from attacks that do no damage.

2 PP

Survivor

Raises the magnitude of damage you can take below the point of zero health to a total of 20% your total maximum health before items and consumables.

5 PP

Understanding of Agony

Through first-hand knowledge and a growing appreciation of what it means to feel pain, you are able to cleanse your body of lesser maladies, trading away the essence of your life in exchange for such.

2 PP

Intellect 

A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste

Analysis

The more you know...

An addition to Observe, this passive ability grants you added knowledge on the subject in relation to other realms of knowledge you might already possess. 

1 PP

Battle Concentration

Your experience gain increases by 90% due to your increased focus during battles. 

5 PP

Instinctive Biofeedback

Something something prana-musculature...

1% of your INT stat is added to your overall health regen rate.

Burdened Spirit 

All mana-based skills increase in magnitude by 2% for every debuff inflicted, up to 50%.

2 PP

Darkvision Lv Max [Ability]

It is pitch black but that doesn't matter to you.

Allows perfect night vision, regardless of the level of light.

1 PP

Healthy Mind

Increases total mana by 10%

2 PP

“Huh…” Greg stared up at one particular item in particular as he slipped away from the steadily approaching capes as one purple flyer broke through the dimming wall of fire farthest from him with Glory Girl and Armsmaster in tow, emergency services and the PRT keeping pace with the approaching capes. He couldn’t help but be thankful that the screens of his system maintained their position relative to him even as he leapt atop a burning rooftop and fell back down to the smoke-filled alley behind it. 

As he took a careful moment to read what was in front of him for the third time, even tapping on a certain screen for more detail, he couldn’t quite help the calm smile that spread across his face. “Well, would you look at that…”