The Reality Vortex: Red Reputations

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Bernkastel watched random energy orbs fly along the air before narrowing her eyes from the gust of wind being strong enough to kick up the air around them. Holding her hands out, she cast a force field for the group as a safeguard from byproducts of the fight since it was beginning to reach its peak. "Just like I thought..." Hearing the others' remarks just confirmed things for Bern. "That left arm of his never was supposed to have grown back; Black Energy doesn't return what it takes. And to survive something that would've killed him twice over, regenerating so quickly to boot? I knew it the minute I laid eyes on him that something was terribly wrong."

With a severity to her tone, she raised her voice after Avalon. "Berserk! If you value your life at all, get out of there now!"

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Berserk unwittingly followed Spina's plot to force her into fighting airborne; having his fist right into her abdomen before she could parry it caused her to hack up saliva and bloody stomach acid. Her sword fell from her mouth to the ground below. Clutching her stomach, Berserk grit her teeth and forced herself to move enough to start parrying his attacks. This wasn't without being struck at least two more times across the face, blood staining her mouth almost instantly. Even if she was blocking successfully, her body was beginning to lose stamina. Each strike from Spina's hands left an impact so hard it practically rattled her down to the bone with a lingering numbness in her hands. At some point it was starting to look like a game of Bloody Knuckles.

"What!?" She shouted back upon hearing Bern and Avalon's insistence from the sideline. "He's trying to kill me?! Hold up--" Berserk turned back to Spina and grasped at his fists to forcefully slow the speed he could throw punches. "You're really out for my blood? I thought we were just having fun, old man! I don't remember signin' up for a death match with you! What's your deal?"
 
Rouge City

Lucifer recalled Whis from the aftermath of Hart and during the incident with Cuki. Unlike the others that view him favorably, barring a few exceptions, the angel has no opinion on the man due to so few interactions between them. But that is not necessary, just by sensing him alone allowed him to understand that he is an “deity”, similar to that of Byakko and Jize. Choosing to remain silent upon Whis’ request regarding this “scent”, Lucifer left that up to Zenta since he was the one who brought it up first.

Rogue City Command Center

Detective Spawn remained quiet upon Bage gushing about Panich. Especially since it has only been a month they actually dated, but the way he was talking, it may as well be the love of his life. “Uh, … I see.” Spawn cringed a bit, a combination of embarrassment and hint of jealously underneath his breath. He wondered why Detective Goku never mention this “Panich”; surely, he would have told Bage if he ran into her in that city. He shook his head since it was pointless thinking about it. “Well, if she’s that tough, then we can rule her out then.” He turned at the projection. “And I don’t think she’s a breaker anyways.”

Clearing his throat after a cough to aired out the awkwardness and returning back to the topic. “Yeah, so May can enter the city since she had been there before, so she can send her orbs without raising any detection. If she can take your generators over there, we should be able to set a perimeter and Cayde can watch things from afar and give us any suspicious activities. She can carry stuff in her hammerspace, though how much they weigh…” He said, waiting on Cayde to answer.

Hyperbolic Vortex Chamber

Spina’s onslaught slowed to a complete halt when Berserk firmly grasped his fists but did not initially respond to Berserk’s demand on taking this spar beyond the scope of its purpose. The Saiyan’s glare locked with Berserk’s once the right side of his face finished regenerating. His eyes glowing bright red indicated that the man was beholden to the battle and nothing else. Steams leaked out when he opened his mouth, and soon after, made a grisly smile as he said a few words to Berserk’s question.

“Death is the finale; our dance won’t stop until blood hits the floor.”

Rearing back his head to wind up, Spina launched his head forward and collided with Berserk to break free from her grasp. Immediately, Spina grabbed his own face; a tremendous amount of darkness surge around him, rapidly coiling around him like a python. Stretching out the skin on his face to the point of tears, he let out a cackling howl and his eyes bulging in and out of his socket before positioning himself to followed up an attack. “Brutal Strike,” He uttered throughout his laughter. “Beam.” An energized beam of black formed from his eyes and fired upon her suddenly, generating a powerful explosion upon impact.

Not giving her a chance to recover, Spina tensed his body and dashed towards her. Going through the explosion of his last attack, the Saiyan emerged from it as flames latched onto his body and tackle Berserk by slamming his fist against her chest towards the ground. A crater formed underneath Berserk upon impact as wind once against kicked up in all directions.

Lilith’s eyes widened upon the strange sets of new moves the Saiyan was using. Hoping to have a tighter grasp, she slithered out of Avalon’s arm, and instead, wrapped around Avalon’s forehead, tightly, so she can have a better look.

Spina stood up on top of Berserk and roared tremendously as his body started to change. Morphing in between his current Super Saiyan state and Super Saiyan 4; he’d unleashed waves of energy again that change the environment in the chamber. Yet, despite the effort, Spina was unable to transformed. Instead, Spina leaped in the air as he clenched his fists tightly. “Brutal Strike: Rampage.” He said as his tone became darker and malicious. Cocking back his right fist first, the dark aura morphed around his arms until it became an energized fist, expanding to an enormous size. “Die!” Spina launched his right fist to attack Berserk. “Die!” He launched his left fist. “DIE! HAHAHA!” He threw his final fist against the Power Punk in his sinister laugh, before crossing his arms together: the aura fully expanded across his entire body, taking shape of a “strange figure”. He was preparing to slam his entire body against the ground to engulf Berserk and everything in sight in a destructive explosion.
 
"Death is... huh?!" Berserk began backing away from Spina as chills went through her spine. "W-wait, but I don't--" Her confused expression shifted to horror, eyes widening as her view was completely lit up by the beam attack. Instantly struck, she flew through the air and hit the floor with an impact that shook the ground of the chamber. She lay flat at the bottom of the crater, letting out a cry of pain as she instinctively gasped for air and clutched at her ribcage; she couldn't so much as feel the blood pounding through her ears.

This was supposed to be fun, wasn't it? How did it go from a fun round of knuckle-busting to a real death battle? Weren't they on the same side? These questions weren't something that seemed to have an obvious answer to her anymore.

My body... why won't it move...? I'm in serious shit right now!

Instantly Spina appeared right above her, startling her to where she screamed internally at her body to move, but she wasn't recovered enough. Even if she could get up, how could she get out of the crater past Spina? It was impossible. A blinding pain next struck the side of her face, before two more crushing blows followed afterward. She couldn't feel her nose anymore and her vision swam in red-- blood had begun to stream down her face from lacerations and gashes sustained by the hits. Berserk clenched her blood-stained teeth together to muffle the choked cries of pain that rose.

Only when Spina leaped into the sky was she freed. I don't... wanna die... gotta move...! I need to MOVE! It felt like a painfully Herculean task, but through force of will, Berserk was able to get onto one knee. However, without stamina or a clear vision, there was no way to counter Spina's next attack with how slow her body was moving now. I can't die here...Berserk struggled to stand as Spina came closer to the ground. Sucking in a deep breath, the Powerpunk readied herself to tank it; whether she could or not was beyond her control at this point.

"It seems you need to be reminded of your priorities, 'dear leader' of ours." Bernkastel's voice rang from above Spina.

"Huh...?" From where Berserk stood, she could only see Spina's silhouette and something bright blue trailing behind him. Bernkastel had left Avalon's side of the field and reappeared behind Spina, hand outstretched until the bright halo of blue formed into her scythe: a weapon she hadn't used in years. 

"Save it for the Xy'pher King-- otherwise, I'm shutting down your little charade. It's gone on long enough."

Bernkastel's face wasn't visible beyond a shadow with eyes. Reeling her arms back to swing, it looked like she was about to execute him. Instead, the blade faced the other direction when it came down-- Bern swung the scythe into the side of Spina's neck using the bladeless side for a full disarmament.
 
"Whis! My good friend, what a surprise to see you again." Zenta said, wagging his tails with delight and bowing back to the Angel. "I am curious to ask if you have seen Cuki roaming around, but now is not the time." He then listened intently to Whis before tilting his head. "I am afraid I do not know of what peculiar scent you are talking about. Lately we have had horribly luck with numerous enemies, the Detective Agency, and some of the Breakers... To say we are a bit overwhelmed is a tad understated... But please, tell me, what do you seek?"


As Spina grew more and more unstable, he noticed that his brutality began to pile up on Berserk. The Powerpunk was strong, no doubt, but Avalon could not sit and watch her get pummeled the way she did. He fought the urge to help Berserk, knowing that this was her fight, yet a cold sensation ran through his body like a current. The fight began to get blurry for him, as did everything around him. He saw fire and heard screams that weren't there. Clutching his ears and falling to his knees as the screams got louder and louder in his head. He was barely able to tell anyone apart; they all looked like globs of color melting in the fire.

Don't interfere..! Don't interfere..! Don't interfere!!! Said one of the voices in his head, a voice from his past. It mocked him. You know what will happen if you do..! It'll be your fault!

"I can't... Berserk is in trouble..! But..!"

It's her fight! She will hate you if you interfere..! Is that what you want, Avalon? You think she's weak, don't you? If you help her, everyone else will die. You know what happened last time, right? That's all your fault...

Avalon grunted as he continued to gaze at the fight through hazy vision. He was barely able to make out who was Spina and who was Berserk, but every time the two clashed, he felt his body being pushed back. Beads of sweat started to run down the side of his cheek, but he wasn't even sure if it was from his nervous breakdown or the flames in his head. Suddenly, around his body, a thin blue aura began to pulse. It was similar to that of Cuki when she transformed, but incredibly weak in comparison. The ninja felt his breathing get harder and harder as his entire body began to shake from his panic attack.

Berserk will never accept you. You hold her back every step you make. This fight is proof of her superior strength and abilities. She met someone who can push her around. Look at her bleed! It is part of the law of battle..!

"No..!"

You can't escape this one... Remember your first attempt? I told you I'd kill them if you intervened, but you tried to be sneaky... And just like last time, you'll lose another one. It'll be your fault, yet again...

"No.."

Let Ber...yi..mi die... I won't hurt the Br....rs. Trust me... I'll pro...tect them...

"No!"

Avalon shouted at the top of his lungs as the mysterious blue aura flashed for a brief moment. The pulse did not affect Lilith as Avalon rushed towards Berserk in the crater at a speed he was never seen with before. His vision was finally back to normal and the terrors he internalized were now all gone. His lime eyes were a striking blue color and the two little wisps of hair he had grown longer, now flowing elegantly above his head. Moments later, he in front of Berserk, arms open to take whatever hit Spina was going to do. All the Powerpunk saw was a very faint apparition behind Avalon before it flickered and disappeared. In his hand was the scroll that glowed brightly with the energy that came from Avalon. However, as quickly as it appeared, it was gone and Avalon kept his ground. A small single horn sprouted from his head, as did a black marking under his left eye.

Once Bernkastel struck Spina, Avalon turned to Berserk, his face entirely emotionless, as he swiped the Powerpunk in his arms and hopped out of the crater as the witch distracted Spina. Dashing just to the edge of the crater, he placed Berserk on the ground before his blue eyes returned to normal. Whatever burst of power he had just vanished, along with his consciousness. He limped before falling to the side, all with a smile on his face and Lilith still wrapped around his head.
 
Hyperbolic Vortex Chamber

Lilith, violently shaking, slithered away from Avalon’s head towards the ground. She thrashes around erratically to shake off the sensation; she felt extremely nauseous after being dragged by the ninja’s actions. After several minutes, she quickly passed out, with swirly eyes to indicate her status.

Spina’s eyes widened upon Bernkastel hitting him with the bladeless side of her scythe. It knocked him out of his concentrated attack and remained stationary in the air. The environment in the Hyperbolic Vortex Chamber, changed by the wave of energy from Spina, had returned to its normal colors. The darkness that billows around the old Saiyan abated back to his body.

A moment of silence, Spina slowly turned his head until both of their eyes met. No words need that the battle was over when Bernkastel step in. Without much of a protest of continuing, Spina let out a deep breath, dropping from his golden form to his regular form. The crimson red glow in his eyes vanished to be more, soother red color. The presence of his energy vanished, and the malicious aura was no longer felt, but his grin still remains.

"Hahaha..." Spina let out a small cackle. "You worry too much. She wasn’t going to die, anyways.” Spina assured the Witch and clearly was aware of what he was doing. “A little bloody nose here and there is just part a battle... otherwise, no one would give it their all.”  The old Saiyan landed on the ground, seemingly finished with the battle, and walked towards Berserk and the unconscious Avalon. He didn’t know what happen with the ninja, but he disregards it and turned his attention with Berserk. The wounds he had was present, then immediately started to heal at an unnatural fast rate.

“You’re pretty damn tough…” Spina held out his hand to help her stand. “That was the most fun battle I ever had since I been here. A battle I’ll remember…” Furrowing his eyebrows. “Get stronger. You’re clearly a natural fighter.” He turned his head slightly back at Bernkastel, remembering that he will fight Bernkastel in the future, before returning back to Berserk. “Let’s fight again.”
 
"... is that so?" Bernkastel's scrutinizing gaze did not change, staring back at Spina silently while hovering back down onto the floor. Your body language said otherwise.

Berserk laid on the edge of the crater trying to see who it was that moved her out. Seeing Lilith fall onto the ground between herself and Avalon, her eyes rested on him before shifting over to Spina standing above her. Instead of taking his hand, she turned her head to spit out a mouthful of blood before smiling back with a defeated manner.

"Yeah. Outside of the part where I lost... it was fun. But y'know... if you kill everyone you fight... you're gonna be one bored son of a bitch." She slowly lifted a hand to wave him off. "Anyway. I'm tired, so I'm gonna nap..." trailing off, the punk passed out.

Bern ran a hand through her hair with a sigh, glancing down at Avalon and Berserk. "Good grief, you kids are really something... I don't think Lilith will be very happy when she wakes up."
 
Rogue City Command Center

Cayde crossed his arms slowly, unintentionally tuning May out for a moment as he listened on to Bage's incessant gushing over Panich. His mechanical face slowly softened, soon shaking his head from side to side and talking lowly to himself.

"Man...I must've sounded so dumb talking like that...hell...I can't even imagine Boss talking like that...kids these days."

He then suddenly perked his eyebrows, a small look of pure confusion adorning his face as he realized all three were now questioning him on the generators.

"Oh right! Umm-"

Cayde quickly leaned forward, fidgetting with the console once more as he brought up a video feed of what appeared to be a warehouse. Inside, its contents contained large oval shaped machines propped up by four mechanical legs. The android turned back to the others.

"So I got plenty of these things, but they're the size of a large wardrobe dresser and weigh like, a gazillion pounds."

His eyes turned back to May.

"They have a limited range like sonar, they can read energy and pick strange anomalies in magic. So I don't know how many I'll need to take; I'll need a map or I'll have to see how big it is myself if you want a full count of how many I need to use to cover the full city."



Hyperbolic Vortex Chamber

Gogeta grimaced, sensing out the fight as best he could. Once Bernkastel intervened, his eyes shot open and he quickly stared on in awe. He blinked hard for a couple of moments, but before he could speak or voice his confusion, Vegetto's curt dual voice rung out.

"You were supposed to keep your eyes closed, Gogeta."

Gogeta furrowed his brow, turning his eyes. Vegetto stood tall, his head still slightly turned towards the battle, but his own eyes had now fully shut. Gogeta paused for a moment at the strange nuance; his actions being read from someone not directly using their eyesight to see him being a small feat that simply confused him in the moment. He glanced back towards where Spina stood, narrowing his eyes.

"I don't know...I could only feel their energies and the spikes. I mean sure...I sensed some weird stuff...but I don't know what any of it means."

Vegetto lifted his head slowly, yet his eyes remained shut.

"Did you hear the screams?"

Gogeta raised his right eyebrow.

"No? When was that?"

Vegetto scoffed lightly, lowering his head. His eyes opened slowly, a strong glare prominent in his expression. A small bit of pressure had built up around the Potara Fusion, but unless picked up on by a strong empath or someone standing next to him, the entire sensation was too small in proximity for others to feel. His intense stare was trained on the floor and at no one in particular, his dual voice curt.

"Her screams of desperation; willing the body to stand and fight. If you learn to feel everything; the energy around you, the energy in your opponent....you can dig so much deeper than just the energy you sense. Every word you speak in your mind, every motion powered by their will...all of it. The force of nature that drives them is always there, no matter how their powers work...and when you figure out how to feel that flow, then you can-"

Vegetto's eyes turned slowly onto Beserk and Avalon, only momentarily pausing to study Lilith's state before turning his eyes back onto the ninja.

"-see-"

His eyes turned onto Avalon, his firm dual voice strong in its delivery.

"-and hear...everything."



Rogue City

Whis offered a small bow in reply to Zenta's, straightening himself out and his eyes remaining locked on Zenta. He held a warm smile throughout Zenta's recollection, his smile only rising slightly.

"You do seem tired, my friend. I apologize for not being of much aid in desperate times...and I can only surmise who troubles you so. I haven't managed to meet your pupil yet, it seems...but I do know enough of what has happened here...in this place."

He paused for a moment, glancing around the city with a small sigh.

"Such a talented student...but he always seemed to miss the details that mattered. He had two pillars to keep him afloat, but even then, he was still never fully whole. When one of them crumbled...I knew that I wouldn't be able to continue holding it up. So I let it fall...hoping that perhaps, something new can rise from the ashes."

Whis chuckled to himself, turning his eyes down to Zenta once more.

"So I ask for your patience; let both of them grow on their own. Without my influence...that way, they can be free and find the answers they need that I could never provide."

The angel paused once again, clearing his throat audibly.

"Mmm, now, with that dreadful bit out of the way...onto the business at hand! I felt some strange...sinister energy coming from that tower in the city yesterday. As if...a flame was snuffed out, and something infected it in its place. Something...repulsive."

Whis dropped his smile, a flat expression on his face once he spoke again.

"Did any of the Breakers...die, by chance?"
 
Brachi's eyes had remained closed for the time being, but she could feel that something had changed, as if someone had stepped in and put an end to the madness... she then heard what Vegetto said.

"And if that is the case... would it then be possible to anticipate their moves if you can see and hear all of that?" She then asked him.

Jize and Bara on the other hand now moved to both Berserk and Avalon, both to check on them as well as wanting to help in treating any injuries they may have had, with Bara wondering if it would be possible for her to use her Mend Beam to fix the two up like that, knowing that her previous attempts had failed, while back in her own universe, both she and Jize both were capable of using their magic to help in healing people from their injuries, although Jize's way was a bit more time consuming.

"If only any of our android friends were here too..." She lamented.

"You mean Celicia, Judy and Gina?" Jize asked.

"Yes, they could heal people with their tails like they were mobile hospitals..." Bara said.

Brachi's ears twitched a bit as she heard Bara and Jize speak, but she remained focused on training... although she did miss her friends deeply, especially her guardian android Celicia... this only fueled her desire to look for them and bring them home... this drive, this sensation had always been there, but now that she was focused inward, taking it step by step, Brachi was on her turn feeling something within herself that she couldn't identify just yet, but then she remembered what Vegetto had said...

If you learn to feel everything; the energy around you, the energy in your opponent....you can dig so much deeper than just the energy you sense. Every word you speak in your mind, every motion powered by their will...all of it.
 
May says professionally "Got you on the I will need to the weighing my self unless those legs are just for show." May points at the legs "2 G orbs(Grab Orbs) shooed be able to handle it just by looking and I only ask the weigh largely for the redundant system."  May says "The shape is a lot less award than I was dreading."

May says still in a professional tone "I gest neither the detective ever enter Refection or got a map of any kind of Refection." May takes out a digital map of refection and says handing it to Cayde "You can mark were they are needed using that. Its ben set up to give the information that public to any one in Refection about Refection. Its one the extras I have so you can keep it."

May says professionally "I not giving you any thing more detailed than that I trust the reasons are obvious."
 
"Die?" Zenta looked back at Lucifer for a brief moment before shrugging his shoulders. The beast leaned his chin atop his thumb, taking a moment to think before shaking his head. "Luckily no one has died here since there are no coins. We have had close calls, but nothing that resulted in death. ... Though there are two missing Breakers that were captured by the Red King, however, I am not sure who they are."
 
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