[IC] A Hero Tale {Complete}

[Jensoman]

Jenso glared at the clone that clasped his hands together, but took aim at the clone behind him. He flew towards the opposite direction of where Yzeira's incoming swiping beam came from, and further away from the other clone. He launched a large blue ball of energy at the clone firing the beam with his right hand, and in the same moment, a controlled burst of flames erupted from his body to push himself over the incoming beam.

He rose his left hand, and unleashed a surge of flames as the beam passed underneath and away from him, to push himself back down to avoid being taken along by the strong pull. The blue energy ball seemed like it would strike him head-on, but Jenso clenched his right hand shut. The flame ball seemed to crackle with blue electricity, and exploded into several smaller balls of electricity, which landed beside the beam and bounced towards the clone quickly in erratic patterns, some bouncing towards his sides while others aimed for his front. He spun around after his actions, so he could see what both clones would do.

[tex]

The body under siege sucked the energy from his beam back into the palm of his hand and clenched his fist. Then he lurched forwards and slammed the palm of his hands on the floor, expelling the energy and consuming the flurry of energy that Jenso launched with a tidal wave of his own. The other clone took an orb into his body and aimed both its palms at the gravity well above the center of the battlefield. It suddenly doubled in size and power. Jenso's efforts to escape its pull seemed successful at first, but were quickly negated. He was once again drawn towards the orb after his explosive burst expired.

"Come now, you can do better than that," Yzeira taunted. The furthest body from Jenso who had just destroyed his electrical attack, rose one hand and took an orb into his body. A shock wave covered the entire battlefield, dispelling the mist that Jenso used to detect his earlier attacks, while also dampening his aura slightly. "Then again, maybe you can't."

[Jensoman]

Jenso didn't respond to Yzeira's call-out right away, as flames began to shed from his body and headed for the ground. They solidified into a super heated flame whip, which melted the actual floor with one of it's ends and dug itself into the ground. Jenso flicked his left wrist upwards. It lashed around his leg with the other end, and pulled himself downwards with great force to the ground while the energy from his body kept pushing Jenso downwards as well. He didn't let the shockwave deter him for long, and stomped the ground immediately as he reached it. A blue wall of super heated energy formed before him and moved at the Yzeira further away.

He unleashed a flurry of spears at the other Yzeira that he was closest too with both hands, while more fog emerged from his body and floated upwards. It positioned itself above the Yzeira that he was still constantly assaulting, and got thicker than before around one specific spot. It began to crackle dangerously with blue electricity and unleashed a powerful, precise lightning bolt at him from above. "Your words mean nothing."

[tex]

The furthest figure lowered his hand and sliced upwards, splitting Jenso's wall in two before dashing between the segments. His shield grazed the edges, glowing intensely for a moment before fading back into transparency. Almost immediately afterwards, he took in even more orbs, leaving him with 3, and unleashed another pulse of energy. This time, not only way Jenso's fog dissipated, but the spear headed for Yzeira's other body were weakened as well. His cancelling magic didn't seem to have enough strength to completely delete Jenso's attacks anymore. But as the spears reached Yzeira's shield, they shattered on contact, once again leaving minuscule cracks on contact that re-sealed themselves a moment later. The lightning bolt, after having its clouds dissipated, suffered from a severe drop in power. Yzeira's barrier suffered no damage at all.

In his moment of freedom, the closest body restored his orbs and aimed one hand at Jenso while keeping the other aimed at the sky. The gravity well from above still pulled at him. If his whip broke, he would begin to float back once again. A red aura started to form around Jenso and his flame whip slowly thickening over time.

[Jensoman]

Jenso glared at the Yzeira close to him, as blue electricity crackled around the fingertips of his left hand while the energy around his feet got thicker. He digged his fingers into the ground, and lightning coursed through the ground from below. Several orbs erupted from all around the clone, and electricity lashed out of them towards eachothers, uniting them into a dome-like shape until they solidified into a blue energy dome that crackled with electricity. It was an attempt to cut off the clone's access to the gravity well and Jenso's body temporarily. It was wide enough so Yzeira couldn't just touch it's edges without moving. It appeared similar to the one he'd used against the black hole before, but stronger.

He dispersed the flame whip and the flames he'd charged up erupted from his feet, rocket bursting towards the other clone at top speeds, hoping to break free of the red energy as he flew forwards.

He began to charge up energy within his body as he did, waiting for the clone's response to his approach. His body began to spread out more fog in his general vicinity as he moved, intending to spread it all over the battlefield again.

[tex]

The body within the dome lost contact with the energy around Jenso, forcing it to disappear in an instant. Likewise, the gravity sphere above him lost a significant amount of its pull. There was something about the raw power of his blue tinted energy that dampened Yzeira's ability to commune with his energy. But much like his earlier encounter with this barrier-like technique, it wasn't too difficult to break out of.

Yzeira took 1 of his orbs into his body and tensed his body as much as possible, crouching down towards the ground, and then standing up very quickly with his arms splayed out. A massive burst of energy pushed in all directions, weakening the barrier around him, but not destroying it fully. That was odd. Had he underestimated it?

Meanwhile, the fog that Jenso spread out disappeared in an instant as another shock wave burst from the clone that he was approaching. It seemed that by now, it didn't even require an orb to eliminate Jenso's fog. Whatever Yzeira was capable of with those eyes of his clearly made repeated strategies inefficient, or completely useless altogether. That shock wave was not just an oppressive burst of energy, he was methodically taking Jenso's energy apart as it came out. Naturally, the more one solves a puzzle, the easier it is to solve the second, third, or fourth time around. "No amount of power will make up for a simple mind," The body taunted, taking all three of the remaining orbs into his body. One hand aimed at the gravity well above him, immediately re-applying the power that was being channeled into it by his double earlier. This slowed Jenso significantly, allowing Yzeira to aim his second hand towards the head-first charging hero with ease. It was a simple attack, one with nearly no flaws, but also no significant strengths aside from its overwhelming power. Jenso knew it well, but now it had the added dangers of Yzeira's Meta energy attached to it.

"Arcano Ultima"

A sheer beam of energy launched towards Jenso, encompassing his entire body. With the gravity pulling from above, his previous momentum, Yzeira's ability to predict his movements, and the speed of his beam combined, there was no way to dodge.

[Jensoman]

Jenso pointed his right palm at Yzeira, creating a glowing barrier before him as the beam made contact. A bright flash erupted as the two energies collided, scattering his energy in all directions around him haphazardly in a large explosion that covered most of the roof and covering Jenso himself. Several shards of the barrier flew at top speeds in all directions, including at Yzeira's feet as they melted into the ground near and under him and made standing still or walking difficult, with the intention to upset his balance while both of his hands were occupied. The energy seemed thicker and heavier than his fog had been. He began to gather the energy he's been building up within his body earlier, focusing it perfectly around his index finger of his left hand. He noticed that the Yzeira that was attacking had no orbs left. 'He's switching it all to offense to finish me off...' He thought, and launched energy from his finger towards Yzeira.

As the projectile moved, it had the exact random pattern like the shards had, and the exact same speed. It looked like yet another chunk that flew past Yzeira, accompanied by many other shards from his barrier. While hidden under the cover of the energy aura, the shards and the large beam that Yzeira was launching, it suddenly zipped straight for Yzeira as Jenso flicked his left wrist upwards. It began to get thicker and moved past the beam towards Yzeira at incredible speeds when it got close, spinning around rapidly clock-wise. That's when the beam began to break the remainder of Jenso's barrier as he crossed his arms and was struck. But he muttered a few final words to himself.

"...Inferno Drill..!"

[tex]

The body within the barrier took another orb into itself, leaving him at 5. The second shock wave followed shortly after, shattering the barrier around him and dissolving its energy in the process. With the clone free, he could act as he pleased once again.

But Yzeira's other body was in an astounding position now. Jenso took the brunt of his laser head on, forcing him back and upwards into the sky above them, and subsequently, towards the gravity sphere that grew in the sky. Yzeira followed his body as it rose towards the sphere with his laser, consistently bathing him in the destructive energy of the attack. But within a few seconds, it began to weaken until its brightness had faded to a deep red transparent hue. A smile had crossed his face by now, forcing him into an uncharacteristically narrow focus on Jenso's body, but his clone noticed the incoming attack before it was too late. It rose both its hands towards the other body as the drill made contact with its shield, and a bright light erupted from the impact point. Jenso on the other hand, was now being pulled towards the intensely powered gravity well from above.

After the light cleared, what remained of the inferno drill was dispelled by a small pop of red energy. From where it struck Yzeira's barrier, several cracks sprawled up and around, covering nearly 30% of the sphere's surface. The cracks slowly sealed themselves, but the body inside seemed taken aback by the realization that his perfect defense was not as perfect as it seemed.

[Jensoman]

Jenso crossed his arms before his face and chest as the beam kept pushing. As the attack ended, he felt severely weakened and had some chunks of flesh missing from his stomach. His face seemed to shift ever so slightly from his usual angry look to pure rage as he grit his teeth, but he couldn't afford to lose control now. He rose the palm of his left hand, twitched his fingers around and closed it as he glanced over at the locations of both clones.

The energy from his body pushed downwards to at least slow down his arrival towards the gravity sphere for that brief moment. Being careless would just harm him more. His wounds hurt, but he wasn't about to give up now. He was noticeably breathing deeper now, it was clear that the attack did a number on him. He spun around to face the gravity sphere now, and he attempted to form another barrier around it, pumping in a good amount of power as he rose both hands towards it.

Suddenly, the shards he'd launched around the battlefield earlier erupted from the ground again at the locations of both clones. The first clone was assaulted from below as several shards dug their way from below, looking to unbalance the clone's footing by melting the ground in a sweeping motion while stopping to unite and make a wide blue energy wall further before him to block out his vision on the other clone. The second clone who was taken aback was also assaulted by shards at the exact same moment, but these were aimed to pierce the cracks within Yzeira's barrier and possibly strike him as well, before the cracks could seal themselves as electricity emerged from them to link them together. As they united, they all detonated at the same time.

"Chain Explosion..."

[tex]

When the gravity sphere was encompassed, Jenso was released from its pull immediately. But it only took a few seconds for the barrier that he projected to begin caving in on itself. It wouldn't hold for long. The shards that went after each of Yzeira's bodies shared a similar fate, in that they had very little effect.

Yzeira's cracked barrier did not leave any room for the shards to penetrate. Instead, the bounced off and hovered nearby as the series of explosions sounded off. After the smoke cleared, the barrier had already fully regenerated, and had no cracks to show for it. The explosive nature of his attacks expelled force too unevenly to inflict a serious amount of damage, and trying to worm into the cracks was foolish while Yzeira was there to actively deflect smaller attacks.

The other clone saw the attacks coming as well. There was no point in hiding the onslaught from his eyes. Before the shards could erupt fully from the ground, Yzeira twisted his ankle and sent a shock wave through the roof, evaporating more than half of them as they emerged, while also flattening the ground he stood on before it could come anywhere near upsetting his balance. The wall served zero purpose, as well. Yzeira could see through it. It didn't matter though, he ran around it and focused on Jenso as he was released from the orb's pull, once again conjuring energy around his body with one hand. A red glow encompassed Jenso and followed him as he moved, but this time, Yzeira had taken 2 orbs into his body, and began to conjure something in his other hand, leaving him with 3. The other body took the moment of reprieve to restore his orbs to full power, while also taking one into his body, preparing something opposite to his clone.

[Jensoman]

Jenso glared down at the two Yzeira's, his back faced towards the gravity orb. A sphere of blue energy emerged from his back, pulsating violently. It phased through the barrier behind him as if it wasn't even there. It seemed like it was about to be consumed by the black hole, but then it erupted violently in a powerful, massive blue heat explosion. It's full force was contained by the barrier despite it's weakened state, increasing it's damaging ability in an attempt to blow up the orb entirely.

Jenso in the meantime, had moved away from the orb immediately, moving at the speed of a missile now that he'd regained his full speed. He flew around the two clones in circles. Whatever the two clones were preparing, he didn't want to be standing still. He reeled his left arm back, and the blue wall that Yzeira ignored earlier shifted into a blue flame saw. It headed for his back immediately, looking like it would try to slash him in half. He prepared to detonate it early when it got close, to make it explode into smaller flame saws, and it was heated up to a dangerously high degree.

He clenched his right fist, and a pulse of energy erupted from his body like a barrier, intent to push the red energy off of him and disperse it, or just cover his newly formed barrier with it instead. He kept flying around in erratic patterns now, waiting for whatever would happen as he whizzed around, electricity crackling around his left leg as he began to charge up energy. He was closest to the clone with the three orbs now, but still had some distance between him as he flew near the edge of the battlefield while constantly moving. He made sure not to fly in between the two clones.

[tex]

The body near Jenso's wall-turned-saw ignored the oncoming attack at first. Instead, it clenched its hand, causing the energy around Jenso to explode, destroying his outer shield almost immediately, but inflicting insignificant damage to his body. Even so, it became clear that enough of those homing attacks in succession would prove cumbersome, if not entirely lethal.

As the saw exploded, Yzeira's targeted body rose one hand and expelled several hundred miniatures lasers at point blank towards the resulting flurry of saws. Each and every one was destroyed as the lasers struck their centers, but the attack didn't stop there. Right afterwards, the storm of energy bolts joined together into 5 streams, and began to chase after Jenso, slowly catching up to his speed. At the same time, the body controlling them began to restore its orb count, from 3 to 5.

The other body, with all 7 orbs surrounding it once again, aimed one hand at the gravity mass that was being bombarded from within the barrier. Suddenly, the shield collapsed on itself and was sucked into the well within. But when Jenso's energy was completely dissipated, the remaining orb was much smaller than before, back to its original size. Yzeira, of course, began to increase its size once again. Jenso's efforts would be erased shortly, and Yzeira had an infinite pool of energy to draw from. Despite his new boost in power, and ability to visibly damage Yzeira's barriers, things were not looking to be in his favor.

Worst of all, Yzeira's hair was beginning to return to its normal hue...

[Jensoman]

Jenso landed on the ground as he advanced towards the clone nearby to stay more out of reach of the orb's pull to make it affect him as less as possible. He was still able to outspeed the streams that came at him from behind as he advanced towards his foe and flames seemed to shed from his body on the ground. He skid his foot across the ground briefly, and he charged more energy underground which shot out upwards, creating another dome around himself and the Yzeira closest to him.

His left arm coursed with the electric power he'd been charging as he punched at his foe with his left fist, as the flames took the shape of a dragon's head. "Die." He spoke coldly, gritting his teeth furiously to make it look all the more menacing.

He followed up with his right hand and opened it, and a plasma whip was created and erupted violently forwards in wild and erratic patterns, swatting at the orbs around Yzeira's body in an attempt to destroy them in their seperated states.

[tex]

The homing lasers from earlier crashed into the side of Jenso's newly created barrier a few moments after he'd erected it, denting it severely with the first two hits, and then breaking it open with the third. Before that, Yzeira waited patiently in place for Jenso's attack to fire off. His fist made contact with the barrier in a flash of fire and light, sending cracks sprawling around nearly 70% of its surface area from front to back. But as soon as the whips launched forwards, each one was deflected, unable to pierce the barrier while leaving no additional impact. His orbs were of course, contained within. As Jenso launched his fruitless effort, the clone fully restored his orb supply, and gave Jenso a curious glance while his barrier repaired itself.

"I feel a little more like myself, now."

Yzeira rose his right hand above Jenso's head, and took a step back, placing the other hand on what remained of his barrier. All 7 of his spheres jumped into his body, and suddenly Jenso's entire barrier took on a red hue, and the hole created earlier by Yzeira's attack was sealed, while the floor below them was covered in a layer of red energy as well, trapping both of them inside. The hand he aimed above Jenso had a different goal in mind. It was now pulling the gravity sphere towards both of them. All the while, it doubled, tripled... no, Quintupled in size, while his other body channeled all 7 of its orbs into it.

"I'm sure you know this, but my energy cannot harm me."

The sphere of energy approached them at an alarming speed.

"Likewise, My energy can phase through itself."

The sphere continued to fall.

"With your immaculate intelligence, I'm sure you can deduce..."

The barrier around the two of them thickened even more...

"...What comes next."

[Jensoman]

Jenso glared at Yzeira, but despite the situation, a smirk appeared across his face. "Boast while you still can." He taunted, and rapidly began to build up energy around himself. It began to grow bigger and bigger, until he looked like a massive blue flame ball. But it solidified perfectly around his body and began to push Yzeira's shield, moving Yzeira further away from himself by extension. He suddenly launched himself towards the side of the barrier, smashing fiercely against it's side with incredible force behind it as an ultimate attempt to escape and launch himself as far as he possibly could. It was the same ability he'd used to escape Yzeira back in Feraldia, but this time it was far more powerful.

"COMET CRASH!!!"

He was ready to launch several whips into the ground afterwards to latch himself to the ground to avoid being pulled back in.

[tex]

Escaping the barrier was one thing. Escaping the gravity well was another entirely. The barrier around them cracked as Jenso contacted its edge. But it didn't break. He pushed and pushed, and the cracks grew larger, but still no success. By now the gravity well was closing in. There was no hope.

"Was that it?" Yzeira quipped.

[Jensoman]

Jenso glared fiercely at the wall before him, as his eyes began to glow even more intense. "A loss is only the end..." He replied to Yzeira, constantly pushing and pushing and doing his best to escape. "...If you let it CONSUME YOU!!" He cried, and pushed with all his might.

"I won't give up!!! No matter WHAT!!!"

[tex]

The cracks suddenly coursed along the entire surface of Yzeira's outer barrier, until the entire thing shattered like glass. Jenso's trajectory sent him plummeting straight into the gravity well above him at top speeds, but the sheer energy radiating from his body push the crimson waves away, sending him directly through the giant mass until he reached the other side. A hole was left in his wake, and the energy began to crumble, before erupting into a massive explosion. But now the rain has stopped, but shards of Yzeira's energy, now crystallized, fell from above like pieces of shattered glass.

Jenso had not escaped unscathed, though. Despite his best efforts, the energy of the gravity well licked at his body as he passed through. That, in conjunction with the energy he'd just expended, put him in a terrible position.

And he'd still been unable to land a single hit on the Chaotic leader of the order of Chaos.

Yzeira's bodies slowly walked closer to one another, restoring one sphere at a time as Jenso almost reached the outer edge of the tower's sealed dimension. They had floated so high by now, that they were almost in space. The masked man lowered his head and shook it from side to side in unison with his clone.

"The end can't be too far off."

---

~ End Of Chapter 209 ~

[tex]

~ Chapter 210 ~

_{Gideon, He Who Cuts}

Zelraka looked towards Jeff and Bruce- Or rather, this new Gideon, with a hint of true curiosity. He wondered exactly what happened. His own fusion was impermanent, and only succeeded through the connection they shared in the void. While it wouldn't be impossible for others to do the same, it would have been extremely difficult. He floated there with a soft, relaxed smile as Gideon saved Zios from certain death. It would be rude to interrupt the man's introduction. That part of Zelriane was still very present in Zelraka. Despite Rajaka's overpowered anger, Zelrian's reasoning seemed like it won the tug of war, in exchange for his serious demeanor.

[Brucenorris007]

Gideon made a quick assessment of Zios' predicament. His fused ally would survive at least, and Zelraka's interest had clearly shifted away from him.

That suited him just fine. One less thing to worry about in a situation that had reached clusterfuck status a while ago.

No time for speeches and drawn out introductions. No reason to dwell on the obstacles. Impossibility?

'Irrelevant.'

Gideon held out one hand, palm up, fingers splayed out. He curled in his pointer and ring finger, manipulating the air in a bubble around Zelraka's head. He clenched his fingers to make the bubble a psychical entity.

Then he bent his thumb inward, draining the air out of it and creating a vacuum.

"Air lock."

The two gauntlets that had once armored Jeff's hands had changed in the process of the transformation. A metallic armor coated his left arm and made a new, distinct gauntlet for the fused Gideon.

With a flick of his other wrist, two rapid vertical blades of wind imbued with Gideon's unique Ki and edged with sand at their razors, shot out of the gauntlet for Zelraka's shoulders.