I Listen (Red & Pinnacle)

Lucius found himself entangled with Scion in the air, yet it wasn't going exactly how he expected. See, he thought the pain inflicted by his energy would make it difficult for Scion to react in a meaningful way, but that proved to be a miscalculation. After only a moment, this man seemed to gain a decent resistance to the corrosive power of the Red Energy, meaning something odd was going on. Lucius, however, was a bit too angry to care.

That said, he did react to himself getting colder. This wasn't an unnoticeable temperature decrease, it was chilling. He knew now that Scion was likely causing it, probably through contact or close proximity, meaning he needed the man away from him. The energy wasn't having a great effect anyway.

Red activated his Repulsive Field. It was a bubble that almost instantly appeared around him which was designed to throw things off of him and meet attacks with the same force they exerted. Now, Scion wasn't really exerting himself, but mere contact would still be enough to launch him back, especially while flying through the air and with the element of surprise.

Finally, Lucius would reach the ground, but he didn't make contact. His tech would stop him before he impacted, then gently lower him down regardless of Scion's location. He still felt the cold, but it was weaker now, spread thin. The prospect that this man was trying to use his weaknesses against him just angered the already enraged Lucius further, though.

"No more tricks...." Lucius said, stepping toward Scion, or not if he was already in range. From there the dictator would remove a sphere from his bandoleer, which opened in an instant and released a crackling, high pitched wave of sonic energy. This was enough to kill a normal human in minutes by overloading their senses, so it would indeed have at least a small effect. The real attack came after, however.

Lucius threw a few micro pellets toward Scion, which would explode with the force of a grenade despite their size on contact.

The plan that Israel had attempted to implement revolved around the presumption that the repulsor technology of this older suit would send out a single pulse that could be resisted, allowing him to remain clinging to the suit and further weakening Lucius to end the conflict.

Unfortunately, this appeared to be largely wishful thinking, and Israel mentally gritted his teeth as his "cloth" bands were thrown from off of Lucius' armor, being that they were unable to enter it and had remained on the outside of the armor when the repulser field became active.

This field, as it happened, did NOT come in a single, resistible pulse, but instead extended for a good distance around his entire being, enveloping him in a protective shield of sorts.

It seemed that Israel's plan A had failed, to his chagrin... But this was not the only surprise that Lucius had in store for Israel, and as he reached for another of his gadgets, Israel recognized this one as being a commonly utilized gadget throughout many of their shared memories; it was a high-intensity sonic pulse device.

Thankfully, Israel's recognition of the device gave him time to eliminate his hearing in the conventional sense as he repurposed his jaw into a sort of pseudo-hearing vibrational dissipater and altered his hearing organelles into more or less useless flesh. It was possible that he wouldn't need these adaptations to his physiology, but Israel was not about to underestimate the older tech at Lucius' disposal again.

The sonic pulse that came his way was at 200 dBA with an oscillating wavelength averaging 2750 Hertz and sustained over the next couple of minutes, which translated to approximately 27,990,960 joules at point blank range; powerful enough to flash off hair and burn a man alive, as well as liquifact bones at the point of origin for the sound, and even at range, enough to kill an unenhanced man via the formation of pulmonary embolisms or other similar physical complications. That said, the distance that it had to travel toward and then through his merkavah as he floated in the air allowed him ample time to dissipate the energy of these vibrations until they were negligible due to how quickly the joule output of sonic vibration dissipates over an area from its point of origin, and his adaptations proved to be indeed superfluous.

Still, it was good to be prepared; better safe than sorry, as they say, and Lucius was still far from done with Israel, and now removed other gadgets from his person in the form of small spheres with combustive elements contained within, throwing them in his direction. In response, Israel sent out projectiles of his own to intercept them; tiny "cloth" bands that would more than likely stop them in air long before they got close enough to Israel's location to harm him. This too was largely precautionary, but again, Israel wasn't about to take any chances or unnecessary risks.

If he managed to do so before they detonated, he would press them away from Lucius as well... Not that the explosion would harm him, as that was highly unlikely, but rather, it was the principle of the thing.

That was a little ironic considering what Israel was planning to try next, as he sent out arcing bolts of bio-electricity from the bands that he had sent out as they passed Lucius, hopefully penetrating the repulser field and striking him in yet another attempt to disable his combat capabilities somewhat.

Let's hope that plan B goes better than plan A... He thought.

The bands of fabric, or whatever they were, sent out bolts of electricity after Scion had successfully circumvented Lucius' attacks. The idea more then likely was to cause a surge in his suit and technology. If Red was of sound mine he might have worried about such a move, but at the moment all he felt he needed was his energy. The rage filled man wanted to bulldoze Isreal, rather then do what he normally would using subtlety and precision. Lucius did nothing to stop the blasts of electrical energy from hitting his repulsive barrier, and in only a few moments the bolts shorted it out, and then hit Lucius himself. Though, by that point the attack had been depleted enough by the barrier for Lucius to just shrug it off.

"No more heroes, no more fighting, no more death. That's what i want, but people like you stand against me. Your philosophies perpetuate exactly what they claim to be against, as do the ideals of all heroes. Your solutions are temporary, your convictions weak, and the results always lead to more violence. I'm putting an end to it, and YOU CAN'T STOP ME!"

Lucius stepped forward, his pace even and steady. As he walked, he released more Red Energy in a constant, relentless wave. He would walk, following Scion wherever he went, and continue to channel his absolutely destructive ability at the man he had chosen as the target of his frustrations. Every movement he made was a testament to Lucius' sheer rage, determination, and power. If you were to lay eyes on the livid, yet somehow still calmly moving man, you would understand why he had been branded the Devil, and why he was considered one of the most dangerous men in the world.

"There is no end to this... It's a never ending cycle of conflict, unless i lay it to rest."

Israel did not take much comfort in the fact that his attempts at shorting out the armor were apparently successful. The man before him was becoming less and less restrained, and while he had resisted his outpouring of energy before, that was when he had the element of surprise on his side as well as a more restrained Lucius that was clearly not intending instant death upon him.

This time, he would not risk directly touching the man in order to cool him quickly, instead, focusing on a more defensive role. Thus, he closed his eyes and focused as scraps of his body began to peel away and orbit his previous location, becoming more and more of the bands of "cloth" until only his spirit remained at its center. His body was still there, but not in its original human shape; it no longer clothed his spirit with flesh.

Using his astral projection, Israel would be the epicenter of this whirling elliptical mass of living cloth, which sped around him at great speeds exceeding those of the sound barrier. This time, he would not be masking the intense sound that this would make, but focus entirely on directing the orbiting semispherical shape around Lucius, carefully staying as far away from the man as possible whilst centering himself on his location, so as to keep him within the reach of his Merkavah, but make it more difficult for him to be hurt in a focused attack of the red energy.

Through this, Israel hoped that he would protect himself from a more powerful focused attack, and hopefully spread Lucius' red energy thin enough that it could be harmlessly or near-harmlessly absorbed in a nova or burst attack, while simultaneously being at least a distraction with the sound if it did not hurt Lucius. (Which he did not expect it to considering the man's durability.)

The plan wasn't completely fool proof, but it afforded him another attempt at chilling the man, and thereby further weakening the red energy in order to both further protect himself as well as hopefully end the fight, albeit slowly, given the fact that the area that he had to cover with said heat absorption on this second attempt would be a far more gradual process.

He only hoped that Lucius did not have yet another means of breaking through this attempt once more, but with any luck, with the repulser down, his second attempt would go far more smoothly.

... In theory.

Meanwhile

"Lucius. Can't you see? You do this to yourself."

A disembodied voice boomed out into the endless, white abyss. Lucius ignored it. Inquisitive as always, the man looked around instead. Of course, there was nothing to see but white. About the only thing remotely interesting about this place was the sound his boots made with each step. It was as if he was walking on marble, yet the floor showed no visual signs of being made of such a material. Regardless, Lucius quickly decided his surroundings were made boring for a reason. The important aspect of this was the voice.

"I've heard that before. What's one more lecture going to do?" Red said with a sigh. An amused hum could be heard over the area. It was as if the voice which had spoken to Lucius was about to laugh at him.

"I'm not here to lecture you. More to give you advice. I'm going out of my way here. I'm a busy man, and it's sorta against the rules to be doing this. But maybe we'll slip through the cracks. God knows they're wide lately," The voice said. Lucius ran his hand through the beginnings of his beard, as if in thought. This was indeed an odd situation that he didn't know how to approach, but it wasn't like he hadn't been in such a position before. The dictator shook his head in exasperation.

"Fine. What powerful wisdom bomb to you have do drop on me? What could you possibly say that would change anything? Better beings then you have tried and failed to fix this." Lucius sat down on the ground Indian style, leaning on his hands. He just wanted to get back to the trials at this point. What hadn't occurred to him was that this WAS his part of the trial.

"Ok ok, i get it, you're stubborn. Jeez. Look, i want to help you. I'm not going to grand stand or tell you what you do is wrong, even if it is totalitarianism. I can't agree with that no matter the result. But, i can see that the world is better with you in it, and that's why I'm going to help you take back control. Otherwise.... I think you're gonna kill that Israel guy," The voice said. Lucius stood up once again. He was a bit more intrigued this time around, most likely understanding that him working with this voice was the only way to get out of his own head.

Trials

The sound aspect of the attack was pretty much null and void. For one, Lucius had just showcased he had equipment that could deal with sound attacks far exceeding the power of this, and for two, even if he didn't have such gear his durability would do just fine in preventing injury. Red just laughed and continued his assault forward.

The sheer amount of energy he could throw around at will was ridiculous. He had no inhibition with it in this state either. It was no wonder how the dictator managed to overpower so many people in his earlier years. With a wave of his hand he could create a pulse outward in all directions, and with a flick of the wrist he could send a string of channeled attacks with pinpoint accuracy. He opted for the former in this instance, as Israel was a far more evasive fighter then he had expected. He would walk forward releasing pulses the whole way, and if Israel ever found himself within ten meters, he would be hit by a pulse or two.

It wouldn't be as deadly as a channeled attack, sure, but it would still do plenty of damage and burn like hell. The corrosive effect was decreased a bit by the gradually cooling area, as was Lucius' output, but that was too slow to immediately deal with the Rise Head's onslaught.

The Rise head's onslaught of Red Energy was just as powerful as was anticipated, as was his resistance to the constant sonic boom that surrounded him. It's powerful pressure waves didn't even phase him as the globe of cooling steadily lowered the temperature of its contained bubble of air.

Instead, he stood at its center... Laughing.

Israel grimaced as he felt the waves of energy pound into his  body as they whirled around Lucius like Shrapnel in a hurricane. His preparations were set, though, and like a man going out in subzero temperatures all bundled in warm articles of clothing, it would take a while for the full effects of the environment to creep in through his precautions and harm him.

As it radiated outwards from Lucius, the Red energy was partially absorbed, then used to reinforce his durability through chi output as a sort of energy scaffolding that held him together better, whilst he resisted its disintegrating effects to the best of his ability with his molecular and submolecular self-ordination.

Unfortunately, this final defence was not perfect, as it required more concentration than he could muster at the moment to perfectly hold his form together against the destructive power that was being heaved upon him, and remarkably, though this kind of defence would normally render him all but impervious to harm, he could still feel his base elements being torn from him, bit by bit...

Truly, the man known as Lucius Alba's reputation for being so powerful was not undeserved. This assault was a testament to that power, and Israel had the unsettling feeling that this onslaught might not even be the full extent of that power.

Still, this was his plan, and though It was by no means a quick one, it was an effective one, and held out well against the current onslaught, though he could feel his molecules being slowly torn away. He would still prevent them from being fully stolen, however, and fought with all his might to resist the pull of the red energy.

It was indeed fortuitous that Lucius had allowed his equipment to be shorted out in his current state of mind. Perhaps he could end this after all... If he could only hold out long enough for the red energy to weaken sufficiently for his resistance to it to become complete.

He just needed time... A few more minutes to turn the tables and stop his form from being ripped from him bit by bit...

"So, how are we doing this? Do i fight some eviler version of myself? Confront my inner demons? Have a few flashbacks and see the error in my ways?" Lucius said, sarcastically of course. The voice mused, humming to itself. This was obviously fun for the being, whoever they were.

"You can overcome it at any time. In fact you already did once. This is you from nearly a decade ago. So, what made you different. What changed you for the better. Walk off the chessboard, my little puppet friend," The voice said, chuckling a little. Lucius simply groaned. Sure he was glad to hear he was capable of taking back control as it was, but he couldn't stand this motif any longer. The dictator spoke in an exasperated tone,

"Not the puppet thing again...."

"Yeah, I'm a bit tired of it too honestly."

Trials

The actual potency of the Red Energy wasn't affected very much by the change in temperature. What was, though, was Lucius' output. Slowly but surely, the amount of energy Red was putting out was reduced. Lucius attempted to compensate for this unleashing as much as he could, and that increased the output to it's normal levels briefly, but soon the pulses were much smaller. Just as dangerous, but Red was eventually forced to stop his onslaught and be more conservative with his approach. If he poured all his energy out now, his body temperature would only decrease more quickly.

"Coward! Come and face me! Or, are you too afraid?" Lucius said with anger. He walked forward at an even pace; it was a gentleman's charge into battle. Though, at this point it might have been difficult to call the seething man such.

Israel relaxed somewhat, mentally.

The parts of himself that were whirling about Lucius had slowed down considerably since the start of his last plan to conserve his own energy, and an invisible mist of his own molecules drifted about with them in the air.

Still, he continued to drain the heat from the area, if only to utilize some of that energy to painfully slowly piece back together the obnubilant elements of himself that now hazed the air around his self-bubble.

Presently, Israel responded to Lucius in his own voice, but without the use of his mouth, instead, he simply utilized his many shreds of self to vibrate the air like disembodied vocal chords so as to perfectly imitate his own voice as if it came from his once-extant mouth.

"It is not cowardice to realize one's weakness, nor is it bravery to abandon one's stratagem for gasconade." Israel replied. "It would not be wise for me to engage you directly, nor do I intend to do so for any reason. You are not only exceptionally difficult to harm in such a direct manner; I also wish no such harm upon you."

He then attempted to project a message directly to Lucius' mind: If the man that I've come to know is still in there and can hear me... I'd appreciate it if you took over the reigns again... Your younger self is far less friendly... And that's saying something. The last part was obviously intended as a joke by his tone, but even Israel's mentally projected voice would carry an air of exhaustion about it.

"So, what do i do, just believe in myself really hard?" Lucius quipped. You could tell the dictator was getting frustrated, but it's not like he was in any position to not follow along with whatever plan this voice had, as useless as they seemed to be.

"Basically, yeah," the voice said without any more elaboration. Lucius gritted his teeth and clinched his fists. The Rise Head could feel the anger creeping up in his head. When it did, he realized something..... Why was he feeling such a physical sensation if he was simply in his head right now? He quickly made the deduction that most likely his blood was boiling. Yes, his physical self was on a rampage.

Red readjusted himself, then spoke, "I'm going to need you to be more specific." The voice laughed in return, as if expecting that from the man. It was pretty clear from speaking to whoever this was that they weren't on Lucius' level of maturity.

"Remember how you felt when you broke free from your past. Bring yourself back to the state you were in when you finally beat who you had become, and in turn grew to be more like the man Isabella once loved. Remember the train of thought, the logic behind it, then do it again," the voice explained, finally being clear and straight forward. It was then that Lucius heard Israel, although nothing could be said back to the man. It was now clear to Red that he had to regain control or Pinnacle would be killed.

Lucius closed his eyes. He thought of Blood Tithe, he thought of Sin, and he thought of the man that killed a boy's mother in front of him. He didn't like remembering these things, but he forced himself to, and then he saw it.

Isabella, Silus, Lucas, and even Travis. His family, and his friends. Love, as cliche as that sounds, was his only way out. He became bitter because of his loss and humanity's lack of understanding, and only being consoled by those he cared about would cure him.

He opened his eyes, and once again, he was awake.

Trials

The dust settled, and the raging beast had been defeated. Though, it was not through strength in combat, but through strength of will. Lucius found himself face down in the dirt. Apparently, his taking back control caused him to fall directly forward into arena sands.

The dictator groaned, and he felt the heat of his body. It was like he had just been in an oven. Some would say you could cook an egg on some of his armor plates. As Lucius got up, he noticed his armor was critically damaged. You could tell just by the look on his face this bothered him, but he didn't dare get angry. His body already felt like it might explode at any moment.

"....That idiot took absolutely no precautions to protect my gear...... What did he think, that he wouldn't need it for the rest of the trials? Yeah, burn yourself and your resources out in one fight—that's such a great plan. No wonder i lost so much....." Lucius spoke mostly to himself, but he was all too aware Israel could hear him. The dictator wasn't in good shape. He heaved his breaths, was tore up, and generally didn't like the way these trials were going. That said, he still took the time to see if Israel was alright.

"I wasn't too much for you, was i? Boneheaded tactics aside, i was still quite powerful," Lucius said, tearing off pieces of armor that seemed to be corroded by his own energy. His doppelganger hadn't quite learned the art of not ruining his suit, apparently.

Israel's constituent matter whirled back together to reform himself. On the surface, it wouldn't even appear that he had lost mass as he was of the exact same proportions as he ever was, he was simply less dense.

In response to Lucius' question, Israel caused the invisible scattered bits of himself in the air to coalesce together into a dense ball the size of a small ball bearing.

"Indeed you are. This is the matter you shaved off of my person. It might not look like much, but I keep myself incredibly dense and store a large portion of the force of gravity on my person at the same time, rendering myself a far more normal weight while maintaining resilience. If I were to reduce its density to that of a marshmallow's I calculate that it would fill roughly a quarter of this room's volume." Israel said, letting the small sphere fall from his hand and allowing it to plummet to the ground with a crunch before dissipating it into more finite matter again and reincorporating it into himself now that the Red energy wasn't fighting against his attempts to do so. He was slowly regaining his strength now without the constant assault on his person.

"Honestly, I wish you would have done more of said boneheaded tactics." Israel said, looking tired. His voice was half-joking and half-serious. "This temple is already draining enough without that energy of yours making it worse."

He paused watching him tear off the pieces of corroded armor. "On the bright side, this is your armor from the past, right? You should get back your original armor that you came in here with in pristine condition by the time we leave... I hope."

Israel then sat down and slowly but somewhat dramatically flopped backwards onto the ground and laid there, exhausted. "Tell me that there isn't a century more of this that we have to go through..." He said towards the ceiling, apparently directing his question at the voice that presided over the temple.

Lucius only half listened to Israel. It wasn't that Red was deliberately ignoring the man, but what he had to say was of little consequence at the moment. Of course, Lucius added the information to his mental notes in case it would become important later, but at the moment he had better things to think about. See, the dictator had no intention of playing these trials fairly anymore. They were taking too long, and at this point had caused him enough discomfort.

Lucius was mostly thinking of ways to circumvent this temple now, but he did give some attention to what Israel was saying of his armor. Perhaps the man was right, but whoever ran this place hadn't shown that much care in the previous trials. It's not like his armor had been repaired during the transition of any of the other tests. No, Lucius was quite sure the damages were permanent. This was the same armor........... Just, transmuted?

"I doubt this is an entirely different set of armor," Lucius said. "Much more likely my current equipment was simply reshaped. Unless i get a boon from whatever it is that's in charge of this place, I'm guessing the damage will carry over............. But no matter. I think you just solved our issue. Or, at least, gave me an idea as to how to solve it."

Lucius' optics flashed purple. It was clear he was doing some sort of analysis. It was at a good time, too, because moments after he started the area once again went dark. The man was putting all the power his systems had left into his suit's sensory system, outdated as it was, and fortunately it gave him some information he could use.

The room went light again, revealing itself to be something that Lucius didn't want to see. It was a loft. More specifically, it was his place of residency right before the assault on New York. Red had visions of this place before, and they were all not quite what he would call pleasant. The one that immediately came to mind was the one Blood Tithe had trapped him in. Let's just say Lucius had no intention of being forced to murder his wife again.

".......You know what? No. I've never been an easily controllable man, and that doesn't change just because you put me in a little box that you can manipulate. To hell with your Temple of Fate, and to hell with your moral lessons. I know your secret," Lucius said, a knowing smile evident on his face as he removed his mask. The core in the center of his suit then gleamed crimson, and it was only getting brighter by the second. The Rise Head was transferring all the energy currently in his body into it. Yes, that would leave him with no power. That included his durability and regeneration because those abilities were consequences of the energy being in his body, but it was a risk he was willing to take.

"Don't you see, Israel? This isn't an illusion, and this isn't divine power. We've been standing in the same room the entire time. It's alchemy—the transmutation of matter. The source of it has been hidden from us until i specifically looked for an energy source matching that of a Philosopher's Stone. I still can't pinpoint it's location...... But that doesn't mean i can't obliterate it," Lucius said. He was nearly done pouring all his power into his suit's core, and that's when an audible gasp could be heard. It was clearly coming from the 'Fatewriter' that had spoken to them previously, only he wasn't so confident now.

"And now you see, Israel. Gods are only men, and men are so often beaten....." With that sentence, Lucius lit up the room with bright scarlet light. It was no doubt all you would be able to see for a moment. This was the total of the energy currently in Lucius' cells, and that meant that it was a ridiculous amount, and that it was incredibly concentrated. Every trace of matter, save Israel and Lucius himself, was almost instantly obliterated on contact.

It was only a matter of time before the energy ran straight into the concealed Philosopher's Stone, and the man that held it. This was the power that had been toying with them. Not a God, not even a metahuman, but a rock. It exploded on contact with the energy, and the man that wielded it was thrown off into the desert in a cloud of smoke. Shortly after, Lucius' blast of power ceased.

Now they stood in the wreckage of the temple. The stone, having not been able to reshape their current location, left the room a tattered and wrecked version of Lucius' old fanciful loft. Stone and brick were scattered about, but the actual temple seemed all but gone. It was in pieces, basically, and the welcoming desert sun was hot on Lucius' face once again.

"If you don't quite understand what just happened, I'll explain later...... But we were just tricked, and our enemy lays somewhere beyond that dune. Will you come with me? I'd hate to keep our host waiting......"

In spite of the obliterated temple and the like, Israel just smiled."Way to bring the trials to an early end, Lucius." He said, flipping to his feet. "And I have to say that I agree with you... At least in our reality, that's kind of true. Sadly there are no true gods here."

Israel peered through the dune with his expanded perception of the full electromagnetic spectrum, happy to be in the full heat of the sun again, which felt extremely refreshing after the terribly draining ordeal that he had recently been put through with Lucius, who didn't seem to have enjoyed his stay at the temple either.

I'd give it a one star rating on yelp, for sure. He thought to himself.

"I can see him." Israel said, pointing to a location beyond the dune and as he did so, a strong wind seemed to blow in from nowhere in front of him, parting the sands and revealing the man. "A fiction within a fiction eh? What interesting pages we find ourselves in."

And so the two hooded men made their way over the dune. Lucius had not manged to get a look at the one who had done this in the chaos. He couldn't quite prepare for what he saw next. Upon crossing over the dune, Lucius stopped dead in his tracks. A gasp even escaped the mouth of the usually calm dictator. He stared now at one of the most powerful beings he had ever heard of, and he had no way of fighting it with his energy drained.

Steeped in robes of smokey darkness, adorned with armor of their own bone, and in the place of their heart a dark power that's the cause of their hollow appearance. I only ever knew of one who had accomplished the task of putting their own soul in a white stone, and to my shame i forced him into doing so. In that white, now seemingly black gem in his chest is a tattered, dying, and corrupted spirit bent on my destruction. His soul, his rage, and his hate are what power his abilities, and they are relentless. The only thing keeping him alive is murder and the subsequent capture of other souls, but he only becomes more inhuman the more he prolongs his damned life.

Lucius remembered those words--they had been said by Nicolas Flamel. This being had been hurt, and the philosopher's stone acting as his heart and soul was cracked, but it was simply repairing itself. The dark being looked to Red with a cold gaze, and he gave Israel the same treatment.

"Alba........ You're as clever as they say........ That won't save you now. Where is Flamel?" The being said. His voice was a hiss, his eyes pierced through to your core, and his body seemed to almost float in the smokey robes as he moved. You could tell this thing didn't want to mince words. It was either reveal Flamel, or die.

Lucius, of course, wasn't one for narrowing his options in such a way. In the rubble, Lucius saw the gleam of Cora Zen's gem. The dictator quickly reasoned that it must have resisted the transmutation when his armor was changed, and was therefore simply hidden from view. Now that the temple was no longer being influenced by the stone, his sword could be seen. Red moved to get it instantly.

"Keep him at bay!" Lucius said as he dashed off back to the rubble. This left the dark being one target in Israel, and with an angered snarl, the sand in the area was lifted into the air, and then turned into magma. You can guess what happened next. In a huge wave, the super heated earth was sent at Israel with intent to obliterate him.

Israel attempted to phase, his mind being a little clearer now at the prospect of the Temple Ordeal being over, but found that he still could not manage it, to his great dismay.

Not good... NOT GOOD... He thought as he darted out of the way of the mass of Lava as best he could, creating a cocoon of his own orichalcum around the mass of Magma swiftly to slow it and hopefully stop it altogether, but not simply trusting that it would be enough to stop it.

At the same time, he reached out to Lucius' blade, utilizing both psychokinesis and feigned aerokinesis by sending forth the mass of air that he had created earlier to move aside the dune darting over to the blade and gripping it as well, both in an attempt to bring it into Lucius' hands faster.

In addition, he coalesced more of his own mass around Lucius' armor, moving it with his own movements to patch its damage, fill its holes, and bring it back to working order once more, recreating everything that he had observed in the fight as well as the items he knew from the memories that they now shared. He hoped that this would give Lucius more of an advantage, and though he wasn't certain if it would work, he also coursed healing chi energies through his person so as to revitalize the man as best he could before he faced their new foe.

They would need all their strength if they were to succeed, and they were both disadvantaged as it was by the events of the once-temple.

As for Israel and the advancing wall, if it was not stopped, he could fly away from its path very quickly, forming more and more matter to stop it, or at least slow it. However, he knew that they would lose a war of attrition, they had to strike at its heart, and thus, the excess matter that coated the lava would fire off from the other end in the form of mithril spears, all homing on the blasted stone. He didn't think it would do much damage, considering the Red energy barely cracked it, but that didn't mean he would just give up on the idea that they might succeed.

His matter would be quickly stealing the heat from the lava as well as its kinetic energy, strengthening itself and weakening the lava, in theory, but this was an unprecedented enemy wielding a power that he barely understood... He only hoped his efforts would do SOMETHING useful against the creature.

Pinnacle had managed to help with Lucius' armor issue. Using some extension of his powers, the man somehow repaired the dictator's gadgets to a degree. How useful that would be he didn't know, but whatever advantage he could get he would take.

Like a baseball player skidding for the home plate, Lucius practically leaped for his blade. Once in his hand, the gem in the sword's hilt lit up with a brilliant cyan. Red couldn't help but sigh in relief when he got his sword in hand. Sure, it might not win him the fight, but at least now he wasn't totally defenseless.

Lucius got to his feet then turned on his heel. What he saw now was Pinnacle apparently trying to drive back a wave of lava. Lucius just shook his head. That attack was nothing compared to what the stone was capable of, and Red feared they were about to see it's power first hand.

"Israel! Give me the serum!" Lucius said after running back to the confrontation. Yes, he had made his problems with taking the silver serum known in the past, but now Lucius was desperate. If that serum proved to be helpful whatsoever then he had to take it, and he had to take it quickly. Assuming Israel gave it too him, Lucius would dive for cover and drink the entire vile.

Meanwhile, the mysterious being raised his hand and channeled the stone's power. The lava turned to fire, and the being cackled in delight. Channeling another reaction the air turned to gas within twenty meters. What gas, you might be thinking? Chlorine Trifluoride. Conveniently, the sand rose over the being and formed a cocoon around him before turning to solid titanium. He would be safe from the blast, but the same couldn't be said of Lucius and Israel.

Thankfully, Israel fixing Lucius' tech to some extent had powered up his repulsive field once again. The sudden explosion met the field with astonishing force, and Lucius was thrown back at least fifty feet. The field was once again shorted out, and Lucius had taken a good amount of force himself, but the serum was at work.

Lucius had been hurt, nearly broken in fact, but he could feel the serum rejuvenating him as he lay there in the sand. His cells, back up to normal generating capacity, flooded his body with energy once more. His eyes turned to neon crimson, and the man's mind was flooded with thoughts he didn't quite understand. He wouldn't have called it an awakening, but he suddenly felt focused. It was like the world had become crystal clear to him. From his very core to every cell in his body, he felt more connected with himself then ever before.

Strange...... Not what i expected.

With the huge amount of energy he was generating to get back up to normal levels, his rage went through the roof. He gritted his teeth in anticipation....... But, to his delight, he didn't lose control. The dictator got up, staring at the excess energy that radiated from his being. This only happened when he let the energy take control, yet he had no problem manipulating it. He was, to his amazement, still in the driver's seat. He was enraged, yes, but he wasn't unstable as he usually was when this happened. This was a focused, precise, and determined fury, and he was about to use it.

Whatever he does..... It's just matter. The energy can burn through it regardless of what it is. I have to be fast and unwavering. Full capacity with every attack to obliterate his offensive before he can make use of it.... This is the only way.

Lucius formed this strategy in his mind as he walked forward slowly. As he did, any leftover gas or flame simply vanished in a passive glow of Red Energy. If this man's power was the transmutation of matter, Lucius in this state wielded what might as well have been anti-matter. It would be the perfect counter if he did it right, but if he didn't, he would be facing his death.

"So much power...... Yet so unimaginative. Do you know how many explosions I've endured? Too many to count. Step up your game, Mavra," Lucius said, using the being's name. He had learned it from Nicolas Flamel. Though, Mavra didn't quite appreciate it. The hollow snarled and channeled his stone once more. This time, the sand turned to ice around Lucius, and the air around him suddenly dropped in temperature. Apparently this thing was aware of Red's weakness to the cold, but no matter. As quickly as the ice and cold air was created it disappeared in a haze of glowing Red. Whatever chemical or element the man was using to drop the temperature was obliterated before it could be useful. This was the plan, and Lucius could only hope it would work out. It was the best he could do on the fly.