Tragedy of the Greatest Heroes

Chapter 24: Combat, Panic, Fear, Breathe, Death

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Violet carefully untied and retied both of her shoes. Her movements were methodical, slow, and nearly robotic. Her face was still enough to have been carved from stone. It was like looking at a statue rather than a human face.

Violet had luckily gotten plenty of sleep on the bus ride back and during the night. After sleeping in for a few hours she brought her counter to far below 50%. During the second selection, she had become increasingly worried at the possibility of reaching 100%. Such an event could prove catastrophic for her.

Violet allowed her hands to leave her shoelaces, having done a double knot on both shoes. She looked upwards toward Vivian who was doing stretches. Soon after Mark and Roland had left to use the arenas as training, Violet and Vivian had agreed to utilize the arenas as well.

“You ready?” Vivian asked, jumping up and down now that she was warmed up.

Violet nodded but didn’t speak. With her counter beneath 50%, Violet felt apathetic toward everything around her, so she didn’t feel like talking. On top of that, Violet was still slightly uncomfortable interacting with Mark and Vivian, unlike Roland.

Violet and Vivian began to stare each other down. Their arena was identical to Mark and Rolands, the same buildings, vehicles, stains on the sidewalks, everything down to the most minute of details was identical across all the arenas.

Vivian took deep breaths to calm herself. But Violet did no such thing, she felt no fear, no anxiety, no emotion at all. Violet began to move psychic energy around her body, enhancing it beyond the usual human standard. Her bones were like steel and her skin was like iron.

‘Watch her carefully,’ Violet thought to herself.

In an instant, Violet shot herself off the ground and flew towards Vivian at over 100 miles per hour. Within a fraction of a second Violet was face to face with Vivian and was about to collide when Violet felt herself get thrown off course. It was a small change, but it was just enough for her to miss Vivian.

Violet dug her hands into the ground to stop herself from moving, creating a line of fingerprints on the asphalt road. It wasn’t hard to deduce what happened. In just a moment Violet had determined that Vivian used telekineses to make a slight change to her trajectory. It wasn’t surprising, Vivian was a specialist in telekinesis after all.

‘I need to keep be cautious of that.’

Violet reached out and appeared to grab something in the air. No, it was the air itself she was grabbing. A small vortex formed in Violet’s hand, brimming with energy. It began to expand, wider and taller until it was soon almost 15 feet tall and 7 feet wide. Violet then threw it at Vivian, using her psychic powers to push the small tornado forward.

Vivian however solved it simply. She placed her hand on the ground and manipulated the earth to create a hole beneath the asphalt the tornado was on. She then used her telekinesis to push the asphalt down, breaking the base of the tornado and causing it to dissipate. Without wasting a second, Vivian then grabbed three cars and threw them at Violet.

Violet pulled her hands in front of her and formed a solid barrier. The cars collided one after the other, causing cracks to appear throughout the barrier.

‘She’s strong, when Mark threw those cars at Jerricho it was with way less force,’ Violet thought to herself.

Violet pulled the barrier in front of her back into her palm and condensed it into an orb of rippling energy. The air around it cackled to life as psychic energy was condensed into a minuscule point.

‘Staying at range would put me at a disadvantage, I need to get up close.’ Violet thought. As a telekinesis specialist, Vivian would be most suited for long-range fighting. By getting up close, Violet would restrict her options as she would put herself at risk of getting hit by an attack.

But before Violet could charge Vivian she felt something slam into her back. Vivian hadn’t stopped controlling the cars she threw but had pulled them back when Violet wasn’t looking.

Violet was slammed into the ground with enough force to cause a small crater. She felt blood flow from her now crooked nose. Her head rang painfully and everything around her seemed to spin.

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‘Shoot, this is bad. Her telekinesis is stronger than I thou-’

At that moment Violet felt another car slam into her back and she screamed in pain. Vivian began to slam the cars down over and over again, each time crushing the cars more and more until they were practically falling apart.

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‘I need to get out of here.’

Violet formed a shield around her body. While it couldn’t completely stop the damage, it was enough to allow Violet to begin charging up a massive amount of psychic energy into the front of her body. Vivian could no longer see Violet anymore, having pushed her into a crater, but if Vivian had then she would have seen a bright glow emanating from Violet’s body.

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‘Condense it. Allow the pressure to build up.’

Violet felt the psychic energy begin to tear at her body. Every part of her body began to cramp and burn. But despite all this pain Violet powered through, after having experienced the second selection this pain no longer phased her. The cars slamming into Violet no longer felt as painful as before and Violet felt her body begin to explode in strength.

‘It’s ready.’

In an instant, Violet released all the psychic energy she had been building up at once. A blinding explosion occurred.

Vivian had less than half a second to react before the explosion's shockwave sent her flying. Vivian was blown off of her feet and slammed into a nearby building, her ear bleeding from the volume of the blast.

Cars all around the two psychics were thrown around like toys in a hurricane. Fire hydrants and light poles were torn out of the ground. The glass windows of the buildings shattered and shards of glass rained down, littering on the battlefield. A cloud of smoke rose from the crater Violet was in.

Violet groaned as she rolled over onto her back. Her bones ached and creaked as a result of the unnatural force that was placed on her. Every part of her body experienced a deep throbbing pain. Wincing, Violet stood up in the crater she had created. The ground smoked with heat from the explosion and the earth beneath her was burnt. As Violet poked her head out over the top of the crater she saw Vivian stuck on the side of a building.

Vivian was slammed into the building hard enough for her arm to break through the concrete wall. She pulled backward and got her arm released from the wall, falling to the ground.

Violet heavily panted and wiped beads of sweat dripping down her forehead. She struggled to stand, her legs shook uncontrollably and the world appeared to tilt sideways in her eyes.

‘Focus, focus, you have a chance to win this.’

Violet began to slowly make her way over to Vivian. She conjured a blunt cane of psychic energy and used it to assist her walking. Her right leg had been torn apart by some of the falling glass and was running with blood. Each step sent a sharp pain through Violet’s body and she limped one-sidedly.

Vivian on the other hand couldn’t even move. A psychic explosion of Violet’s scale and style had consequences for the surrounding psychics. When the shockwave was blown out from the explosion it had been laced with psychic power that rippled throughout the bodies of any psychics that came into contact. If a psychic didn’t put up a shield in time then the two different psychic powers would mix and begin to attack each other, causing the victim to become paralyzed until the attacks ceased.

‘Just a little further, almost there.’

An explosion like this came from a lucky situation. B-Rank’s like Vivian would easily be able to form a strong enough shield to protect them from the explosion, had Violet not been in a crater then the attack would have been for nothing as Vivian would have reacted in time. On top of that, Violet drained herself of nearly 50% of her psychic energy for just that one attack.

‘10 steps, 9 steps, 8 steps, 7 ste-’

Violet’s thoughts froze. She was overcome by a sense of dread as she looked at Vivian. Vivian’s body convulsed and she had begun to foam at the mouth. Her eyes moved around, panicking. Her fingers twitched uncontrollably, grabbing at the air repeatedly. But Violet noticed none of it, her thoughts were only drawn to Vivian’s arm. It was bruised heavily and contorted unnaturally.

Violet’s heart began to beat with unusual force. She felt blood echo pulse throughout her body, echoing in her head like a drum. Her breathing quickened, turning into a high-speed hyperventilation as her mind was drawn back to the previous day. She could see it clearly, being pinned down by someone far stronger than her and being forced to watch Vivian be tortured.

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In an instant, a series of terrifying emotions rose in Violet. Anxiety, fear, shock, all of it exploded within her. She began to stumble backward, horrified at the sight of Vivian’s arm.

‘I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.’

Violet collapsed onto her knees, her eyes wide in fear. Chills ran throughout her body as though her blood itself had turned into ice. Her heart rate shot upward like a bullet and Violet clenched at her chest.

‘It’s cold, I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.’

Violet couldn’t think anymore, she could only feel, and the only thing she felt was dread. Not fear, but dread. Dread, doomed terror of an inevitable disaster about to occur. Something was going to happen, something horrible. Violet needed to run, needed to escape, no matter the cost.

Violet attempted to move her legs, her arms, anything, but her limbs had become weak. They were like jello and the air was like syrup. She couldn’t move at all. Everything around her was loud, the wind sounded like a jet engine.

Violet looked to the sky, the buildings appeared to move, caving inwards and stretching upwards, entrapping Violet inside.

‘My face, I can’t feel my face. Run. I need to get out. I’m going to die.’

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‘Is this a heart attack? I’m going to die. It’s cold. I can't breathe at all. My arms and legs hurt.’

Violet began to scream as she became overwhelmed. She had no doubt now, she was going to die, she would die here, there was nothing she could do anymore. Tears streamed down her face as she awaited death.

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‘What’s happening? I can’t breathe. It’s cold. Everything hurts. Gods, what’s happening?’

Violet clenched her chest tighter and tighter until her shirt began to tear. Breathe, she needed to breathe. It felt impossible, but Violet began to force her breathing into an orderly rhythm and rate.

‘Breathe, you need to breathe. I’m going to die. Just breathe. It’s cold. Breathe Violet.’

The world around Violet froze and she felt like her life was being stolen from her. But she kept her breathing under control. Even if it was just for a moment, she didn’t know why, but she knew she needed to control her breathing as much as possible.

‘Breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe.’

The world around Violet slowly came to a halt. The buildings undistorted, shrinking down to their previous heights and allowing Violet to see the sky once more. She felt her heart slow down and the beating in her head became more muted.

‘Breathe, breathe, breathe.’

Violet felt herself regaining control. Her body adjusted to the inhuman influx of sudden emotions that had come. Violet was left exhausted, physically and mentally. The sense of dread that Violet had earlier was replaced by a lingering fatigue. A gray fog entered her mind, encouraging her to rest. Everything became hazy and all she wanted to do was drift away, allow the warmth of unconsciousness to take her.

‘No, Vivian, what happened to Vivian?’

Violet looked up and saw Vivian now standing. Vivian lifted her arm shakily and all around her small glass shard began to float. A window of shattered glass remains hovered around Vivian, with a clean strike, any single one of them could cause death to an unprepared psychic.

With a flick of her finger, Vivian tossed every single shard toward Violet. They whistled as the flew, a song of death pierced the air. Violet barely had enough time to shield her body as the glass shards flew at her. They shattered repeatedly against Violet’s shield, like rain against an umbrella.

‘Quickly, I must act quickly.’

Vivian was attacking her, but there was a difference this time. The attacks were more controlled, slower, and posed more of a threat to Vivian than before. Violet had gotten close enough to Vivian where careless telekinesis could lead to self-harm.

In an instant, Violet condensed a ball of psychic energy into her hand and shot a beam out toward Vivian, forcing Vivian to dodge. But, the attack still grazed Vivian’s shoulder and left a burn mark. Violet’s arm was cut as a result of the attack, defending and attacking simultaneously was a highly advanced technique even some A-Rank’s struggled with. But Violet was successful. Vivian’s focus on the glass shards faltered for a moment and Violet sprang into action.

She channeled psychic energy into her leg and kicked Vivian’s side, feeling bones inside crunch from the impact. Vivian’s legs were lifted off the ground, but before Vivian was thrown away Violet grabbed her with telekinesis and pulled back. At the same time, Violet threw a punch towards Vivian’s face.

Vivian’s face and Violet’s fist collided with tremendous force. Vivian was sent soaring and crashed into a building. Blood began to drip out of her nose and head from the impact.

‘Not yet, don’t allow your opponent a moment of rest.’

Before entering the fight, Violet and Vivian agreed to continue fighting until one of them surrendered or was knocked unconscious.

‘I’m sorry about this Vivian.’

Violet held her hands close together, as though she were holding something. Soon a bright light appeared in between them and psychic energy could be visibly seen flooding into it. A brilliant sphere of psychic energy was formed, shining with the intensity of a thousand lights.

“Vivian!” Violet yelled. “Surrender now!”

But Vivian shook her head and instead brought up her arms to fight. A fire in her eyes burned passionately, refusing to give up, no matter the cost.

‘I’m sorry, Vivian.’

Violet screamed as she released the psychic power she had condensed between her hands. A beam of purple energy shot out and completely enveloped Vivian in its blast. As Vivian screamed the beam of energy tore through the building behind her, melting the walls and everything it touched as though it were paper until Violet finally released it.

When the beam disappeared, Vivian was left barely standing, her entire body covered in red burns as though she had been out in the sun for too long. Vivian then collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.

Violet’s hands had become slightly burnt from the amount of psychic energy they were exposed to in close range. All at once, the exhaustion she had experienced earlier returned and Violet fell to her hands and knees. Her entire body was drenched in sweat from the intensity of the fight and it dripped onto the ground beneath her.

‘I won…’

At that moment an A-Rank psychic flew down from the sky and began to heal Vivian.

‘Thank goodness…’

Violet could now be assured of Vivian and her injuries being taken care of. She allowed the exhaustion to spread throughout her body and Violet felt herself go limp. She collapsed into a heap on the ground, barely conscious.

‘I won…’

But as Violet drifted off into unconsciousness she couldn’t help but wonder what had happened earlier. What was the overwhelming fear? The horror? The dread?

‘At least though, I’m not dead…’

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End of Chapter 24