Previously in "Blue Nexus": After discovering that all the mages from Magus Forest have vanished, the heroes are forced to figure out a plan to defeat Rafael once and for all. After discovering a weakness in Rafael's new plan, the Zanderia gathers for one final battle in this war!
Riko led the charge, leaping forth
off the plateau into the sea of demons and Dark Mages alike. Then went Phoenix,
and Lalay. The big three of the Zanderia were always the first to head into the
action. Kyle held back and watched them go. They were the best of the best, the
greatest heroes in all the galaxy, maybe even the whole universe. Riko punched
the ground as hard as he could, shattering the earth itself and sending heaps
of dust and ash into the air to create a smokescreen. The plan had begun.
The Sentinel and Prism went next, with the Sentinel sliding down the plateau
and Prism storing in all the remaining light he could from the sun before the
dust cloud blocked his vision. Silver Eagle held steady next to Kyle and Brian
before he also went in, and Kyle heard the battle begin as one of the mages or
demons launched a blast, causing a small explosion down below.
“Sounds like it’s about time we join in on the fun,” Brian said.
“Get straight to the tower,” Brenda said, nodding to Tania.
“Good luck,” she said, and wiped her hands in front of her, vanishing in a tiny
flash of green. Kyle tapped his hands on the bracelet and felt his hands
trembling. This was it. Everything came down to what they did next. If they
lost, if Rafael got the better of them, then all his friends were dead. Kip,
Luke, Mira, Grandma, Grandpa. They’d all suffer under Rafael.
And he’d never get to find his parents. Kyle felt his power burst a bit in his
gut when he thought of them, and the promise he made to himself to go out and
find them, even if they were captured by some ultra-powerful War God. Rafael
stood in his way of that, and threatened everyone else. He had to be stopped.
He took off next, swiftly followed by Brian. They shot across the sky,
maintaining flight while the battle below continued. He was halfway across when
one of the mages launching a dark purple wire at him and caught his arm. The
Dark Combat mage yanked but Kyle pulled harder, and the mage went airborne.
Kyle pulled back again and caught the mage before throwing him down toward the
ground. Kyle filled his hand with energy and tossed a ball of it at some of the
demons about to pounce Riko. They all exploded, blasting away and turning to
mist before starting to reform.
Kyle noticed the tower glow just a bit when they did start to reform. Rafael
was still controlling all of them. He had to still be using magic, then,
meaning that either he was tired, or was somehow well-rested. Perhaps he was
keeping some storage of Shield mages behind to constantly heal him.
He pushed forward, descending toward the door. Brian was already there, looking
behind him and waiting for Kyle to land as well. Kyle glanced back at Brenda
and Sandy, who were making their way across the battlefield in a charge,
getting cover from Lalay as she forced the armies apart. Kyle cut his energy
and dropped, rolling before he reached the door.
A large sect of demons turned around. Kyle prepared to attack but stopped when
Lalay swung her arm out and a wind hammer crashed against them and knocked them
right into the tower itself, shaking the entire structure a bit. Sandy and
Brenda stopped with Kyle and Brian.
“Make sure to give him a good one for me,” Lalay said, and turned back toward
the battle. Brenda nodded.
Kyle and Brian placed their hands on the door and surged their power,
unleashing a great wave of energy and blasting the door down. The demons
screeched behind them. The four of them skirted into the tower, and the door
predictably sealed right behind them, leaving them in a room lit by dozens of
green candles.
“Over there,” Kyle said, pointing to a lift in the back of a large room.
He started but was stopped by an invisible wall. Kyle punched, but it was at
nothing, and tumbled forward. Brian caught him before he hit the ground.
“Looks like we’ve found our first Pillar,” Brian said, gesturing ahead.
A man stepped from the green ether along the back wall, holding his hands aloft
and then bringing them to his side.
“I finally get to come out and have a bit of fun,” the Reality Pillar said.
“Honestly, it’s really not that fair. Even my brother got to see some action
before me.”
Kyle nodded. “So you are Brandon. Trevor was asking about you when Adelita was
getting hit by that magic disease.”
“Did he guess I’d become a stronger mage than he ever let me be?” Brandon
asked.
“Probably not,” Kyle said. “You weren’t really the concern at the time.”
“And you won’t be for long,” Brian said, stepping ahead of Kyle. “You three
keep going. I want to see what these Six Pillars are made of.”
Kyle stepped up as well. “We take him together. Then we’ll finish off Robbie up
above and it’ll be that much easier. We should stick with the plan.”
Brian chuckled. “Come on, Blue Nexus. You really think we’re both needed for
just one of these guys?” Brian’s body tensed and he unleashed a huge amount of
power. Kyle stepped back just in shock alone, but felt overwhelmed by his
increase in power. “You should really get out to space more, it’s effective
training with the Nexus.”
“Alright then,” Kyle said. “Just making slight modifications to the plan, then.
Shindari, Violette, let’s keep going.”
Kyle clasped Brian on the back and sprinted ahead with Brenda and Sandy, who
were already headed for the lift. Brenda waited for Kyle to join them and then
pulled the lever on it. The magical chains, probably created by either a
Reality mage or a Combat mage, started to pull them up. Kyle stared down at the
large, open room until the next level blocked his view.
He sighed, focusing his power. If they were going to with this idea, of the two
Nexus taking on two separate Pillars, then his opponent was one that was easily
able to shatter Brenda’s barriers. Even he struggled to do that. Then again, he
really only beat her because he surprised her, and it sounded as if he went
all-out from the get-go. Kyle was ready for a good old smack down, just a
bare-knuckles fight.
“You guys holding up okay?” he asked.
The sounds of battle continued from outside. He heard Sandy and Brenda grunt.
They were probably nervous. Hard to blame them.
They arrived at the next room, where Robbie was waiting in the center of a
large blue circle. Blue candles lined the walls of the entire room. Kyle
stepped off the lift. Robbie pointed behind Kyle.
“Them too,” he said.
“Sorry, they’re going to be a little bit busy,” Kyle said. “I’ll be plenty
enough to make you happy, Robbie.”
“Oh, I hope so,” Robbie said. “Fine then. Rafael will just have to deal with
you separately, Blue Nexus, if there’s anything left of you.”
Kyle turned and nodded to Brenda and Sandy. “Good luck you two. Remember to
trust the plan.”
They nodded and Brenda pulled the lever again. Robbie laughed and started
forward, moving like a freight train.
“Ah, screw it, not gonna let them get away that easy!” he exclaimed.
Kyle stepped in front of him and propelled forward, matching his power and
stopping him in his tracks. Robbie laughed, and Kyle felt the rumble in his chest.
“Now I gotcha,” he said, and picked Kyle up over his head, threw him at the
wall, and with a punch that could probably crack a mountain in half, punched
Kyle through the wall and out onto the little island in the large lake behind
the tower.
Brian heard the boom from up above and sensed Kyle’s power waver. He didn’t
take his eyes off of Brandon—if he was actually standing there. Brian let his
aura consume him a bit more, fading a bit more into the Nexus and letting those
senses overwhelm his more human senses.
If
what he heard about Reality mages was true, he’d have to put up a significant
amount of cosmic energy for this guy to bend Brian’s perception of Reality, or
for him to confuse the reality around Brian. Brandon remained motionless on the
opposite side of the room, just standing with his arms crossed.
“I’m not much of a brawler,” Brandon said. “I’ll admit, I haven’t worked out
too much in my life. I don’t know how much damage I’ll be able to inflict on
you. You’ve got the Nexus, so, I imagine I might not even be land a punch on
you. Kind of sucks, I feel like I’m at a major disadvantage.”
“Then you should just walk away,” Brian said.
“No, can’t let that happen,” Brandon said. “See I’m not a brawler, but I
promise you’re not going anywhere today. You won’t get to the next level to
help the Blue Nexus, or even higher to fight the people above.”
“I’m pretty sure I will,” Brian said. “So, you really want to do this?”
“Sure,” Brandon said. “Go for it.”
Brian nodded and burst forward, moving with the accelerated Nexus energy right
toward Brandon. He swung and his fist doubled back and punched him across the
face, knocking Brian back. He flipped and landed. Brian glanced around and saw
Brandon strolling from across the room, now with his hands behind his back.
“Nice trick,” Brian said, smearing the blood from his face. The pain was
already gone. “Your illusions are pretty real.”
“Not illusions,” Brandon said. “I want to see if you can figure this out.
Again, I can’t hurt you. It’s going to be a bit like a suicide if you keep
fighting.”
Brian scowled and launch an energy beam at Brandon that came right back around
and hit him square in the back. Brian rolled forward and spun around, launching
another beam at Brandon, then turned and was hit in the side. He stumbled to
the side.
“I think I’m getting it,” Brian said, standing up straight. Problem is finding
a way around it. He was bending the reality around Brian, creating alternate
realities in which Brian were attacking the exact place he stood. Brandon was
simply a manipulator, and at this rate, it’d be impossible to hit him.
He would just jump through realities until he came back to this one, and to
Brian, that was done in an instant. Brandon could be gone for hours cycling
through realities to find the perfect one to match but Brian would never
notice.
Brian swung his arms out, launching energy blasts all over the place, then
leaping up to dodge them. However, they all came right back up toward him. He
smiled and swung his arms back, and the force of the blasts sent the beams
right back. One, though, slipped through and clipped him across the side.
Brandon hung upside down from the ceiling, shaking his head. “I have access to
as many realities as I want, to as many versions of this fight that I want. I
know everything you will do.” His eyes flared green. “You lost this fight the
moment you walked in.”
Brian dropped back down, and Brandon did the same. He let his aura in a bit
closer to recover his lost energy. If he attacked Brandon he was screwed, but
he couldn’t do anything. He sighed. There was one thing he could do
but it would seriously drain his power. And he was saving it up for…well, for
later. Brian tried not to think about those plans right now.
His current plan, though, hinged on a loose hypothesis. If he was wrong then he
would be done for, he’d be punching and blasting himself throughout this entire
fight. But if he were right, then that glaring weakness of Brandon’s would
easily be his downfall.
Brian lowered himself and blasted his aura around him, then leapt back and
stood on the complete other side of the tower. Yeah, this would be enough room.
He sighed and put all his power in his legs, then felt the energy of the Nexus
consume him a bit more. He could feel the ethereal nature of it starting to
seep into his body, and he started to see little splotches of black from that
reality leaking into his own.
Brandon moved to stand directly across from Brian and held his hands up. Brian
got into a runner’s position, then burst forward as fast as he could,
unleashing a great gust around them. He was atop Brandon in seconds. Brandon
flicked his fingers and Brian slammed his foot down. He turned and only just
watched as his plan worked and Brandon remained in place.
“Wait, what?” he exclaimed, then, like the smart guy he was, turned around and
tried to advance on Brian again.
“Now I’ve gotcha,” Brian muttered, and burst forward again, and cut away at the
last second as his afterimage continued to move toward Brandon. The afterimage
was knocked away but Brian remained unharmed. He launched an energy blast at
Brandon, who barely dodged it and vanished.
Brian shot down to the ground and bounced from side to side, creating an exact
duplicate. Brandon reappeared, glowering at the two Brian’s.
“Goddamn you,” he muttered.
“You seem lost, Reality mage,” the Brians said. “Let me help you with that.”
The real Brian burst forward but stopped short, and the letting the afterimage
catch up to him. Brandon used his spell just in front of him, thinking that the
real Brian was the after image. But nothing happened, and his eyes just
widened. Brian burst forward again. Brandon used his spell once more on the
after image, but Brian was already behind Brandon.
He swung down so hard he felt the bones shatter in Brandon’s back. Brian
dropped to the ground with an energy beam at the ready and blasted Brandon
against the back wall, crushing him against the wall.
“Only one left,” he muttered, and let his aura drop around him. His legs were
mightily sore, but they’d recover. He smiled, proud of the afterimage technique
his mentor taught him finally paying off, and even busting the reality of a
reality-bender. His enemies would never be able to stop it.
Kyle pushed himself to one knee while Robbie shook the island itself with his
landing. He’d leapt from the big, gaping hole in the tower all the way across
in a single bound. Kyle lulled his head from side to side, understanding how he
was able to just punch through Brenda’s barriers like they were Styrofoam.
Robbie held his fisticuffs up. His entire body was just muscle, it seemed. He
was ripped all over and could squeeze Kyle’s head between his forearm and tricep
like an apple. His head was a bit too small for his shoulders. Even Riko would
look like a pipsqueak next to this guy. Kyle rolled his shoulders back and
stripped off his cloak, leaving only his black undershirt and revealing his
face. It felt strange, but, if Robbie got a hold of that and yanked hard
enough, he could probably snap Kyle’s neck in a single stroke.
“Kind of figured you’d like to keep me in there,” Kyle said. “Unless you really
think you can beat me without drawing from your magic?”
“I haven’t drawn on my magic in a long time,” Robbie said. “You’ve never faced
a mage like me before, kid.”
“Probably not,” Kyle said. “None of them have punched me through a wall yet.
Although I did get kicked through an open door.”
“I heard about that,” Robbie said. “It was by a weak, new Power mage.”
“I’ve upped my expectations a bit from that experience,” Kyle said. “So what’s
your gimmick, then? If Clarke was all about stealing magic and Axel was all
about anticipating my moves before I made them, what do you have to show me?”
“Nothing,” Robbie said. “And yet at the same time it’s everything.”
Kyle raised his eyebrow. “I don’t think I’m following. Am I supposed to be?”
Robbie raised his arms over his head. “And I’m always called the dumb one!
Let’s see if you can figure it out!”
He swung his arms down and massive gusts of winds launched toward Kyle. It
almost felt like he was standing in a hurricane. He threw his arms up to block
the sand from coming in, then leapt into the air. Robbie followed, but wasn’t
all that quick. He wasn’t a very lean person, which allowed Kyle to flip away
and land. Robbie clapped is hands together, like Thunder Tiger would, and the
force knocked Kyle back a bit.
Kyle landed and propelled toward Robbie. He had to get two quick jabs in, just
to see how they would land. Robbie, still in the air, grinned as Kyle
approached. Kyle landed the first punch on Robbie’s chest, and then on his
face. His face slightly jerked to the side, but that was it. Kyle opened his
palms and blasted Robbie back to the edge of the island, and Kyle dropped
straight down. He brushed some of the sand off of his torso.
“Fantastic,” he muttered. “And here I thought this base energy would at least
do something.”
“You’re holding back?” Robbie asked, but without a hint of surprise. “Why?”
“I’d prefer to go all-out on Rafael,” Kyle said. “But if showing everything
I’ve got gets me there quicker, I won’t mind.”
Robbie rubbed his hands together. “And here I thought you were going to go
harder because you figured out my secret.”
“I’d still like to know,” Kyle said, concentrating energy around him. He held
his hand out, forming a small crystal of Nexus energy.
“I am the power,” Robbie said. “I channel all of my magic into my physical
form, increasing my pure, raw strength a thousand fold. In terms of sheer
strength, I dwarf Rafael himself. He’s simply capable of doing all the other
forms of magic to increase his own powers, and for that, he has my respect.
I’ll serve him until the end.” Robbie shrugged. “Honestly I was hoping to
challenge Riko, just to see how I stacked against Earth’s strongest hero, but
it’ll have to wait until the kids are all done playing.”
Kyle nodded. “Yeah, it will. Now, speaking of Rafael, I need to go kick his ass
real quick so if you’ll be so kind, let’s get back to the punching.”
“It won’t last long,” Robbie said.
“I’ll make sure it doesn’t,” Kyle said, and crushed the energy in his hand. His
aura exploded around him, even forcing Robbie to take a step back as the entire
small island was engulfed in powerful winds. Waves whipped about all around
them. Kyle felt the energy flowing more fluid than ever throughout his body. It
was a raging river, rushing throughout his entire body, but not in a dangerous
way. It was all under his control.
He concentrated that rage into his arms and legs. They glowed a much brighter,
stronger hue of blue. Kyle’s eyes also shone that same color blue. Robbie
opened his mouth to say something, and in that same instant, Kyle was right in
front of him.
He punched Robbie straight across the face. The Power mage doubled back, and
the force of the punch blasted through Robbie and split the lake behind them,
ripping across the waters. Kyle followed up with another punch to the gut,
which blew out all the sand behind them. Robbie doubled over, unleashing a
whole heap of saliva and air onto Kyle.
Kyle kicked him in the side and Robbie flew to the edge of the island, keeping
himself just barely on the sand. Robbie, still standing, sucked in a deep
breath and glared to Kyle with red eyes. He roared and leapt at Blue Nexus.
Kyle lowered himself, and matched Robbie as the two’s fists connected and then ruptured
apart as their blast forced an explosion of air between them. Kyle flipped and
landed on his feet while Robbie’s body sank knee-deep into the water.
He shouted again, smacking his hands on the ground and sending all the water
around him airborne. Kyle pulled back both hands and unleashed a barrage of
energy blasts. Robbie blocked them with his arms, but sand billowed into the
air to create a smokescreen for Kyle. Robbie swung at it, but Kyle was already
there and kicked him in the side of the head. Robbie took it like a champ and
bounced back onto the island, getting back on his knees.
Kyle shot toward him and Robbie saw it coming, including Kyle’s follow-up
maneuver. Kyle dodged around Robbie and took an elbow to the chest. Robbie
reached out and grabbed Kyle’s shirt, but Kyle ripped his arm free. His shirt
went flying but Kyle was free and kicked out, catching Robbie’s wrist and
shattering it. Robbie grunted but didn’t let up, leaping at Kyle and punching
him in the side.
Kyle caught his breath and slid back. He held an energy ball in hand and
propelled toward Robbie, dodging his first punch and easily evading his knee.
He shoved the energy ball into Robbie’s chest and unleashed it, sending Robbie
airborne. Kyle immediately followed, catching up to him in seconds and knocking
Robbie back onto the island. Robbie crashed and before could get up Kyle drove
his elbow into Robbie’s back and knocked the giant out. Kyle bounced off and
gave himself a ten-count before sighing and relaxing his energy a bit.
“And that’s that,” he said, and looked back to the tower. The green light from
the Reality Pillar room was gone, as was the blue light from Robbie’s room. He
held steady for a second, closing his eyes and focusing.
He realized he was still swaying a bit from Robbie’s attacks, and while his
adrenaline went down, his pain started to shoot up. He concentrated his Nexus
energy, made much easier while still in Wave 2, on his ribs and chest and
soothed the pain a bit. Sort of like leaving an icepack over them—it was still
incredibly sore, but it’d get better with time.
He flew slowly across the gap and back into the power room, where Brian was
waiting for him. His own aura was a little light as well. He nodded to Kyle.
“Nice job,” he said.
“Thanks,” Kyle said. “You too. Or did he just let you go free?”
“No, he didn’t,” Brian said. “But it was good practice.”
“Practice on one of the Six Pillars?” Kyle asked. “Show-off.”
“Whatever,” Brian muttered. He cleared his throat. “Alright, let’s get moving.
They’re probably high enough for us to not be able to feel the effects of their
battle. We’d better fly quick if we want to catch up.”
Kyle nodded, and looked up. The ceiling for this floor was much higher than the
previous one. He raised his arms, as did Brian, and the two blasted up,
destroying the ceiling. Kyle let his aura around him a bit more and the two
shot up, flying right through the gap and into another room. It was completely
black, with no lights at all.
The gap they created below suddenly fixed itself. Kyle looked around, unable to
see the walls even with his aura up. He could see Brian next to him equally as
confused.
“Must be just an empty room,” Brian said. “But I can sense something.”
Kyle felt his right arm quiver. “There’s a Demon mage in here. Probably the one
that created the army outside.”
Brian smiled and flared his aura, but in mere seconds, the darkness consumed
it. Brian tried again, and was swatted out of the sky by something. Kyle heard
something moving through the darkness and dodged it, only to be blasted back
against the wall. He bounced off of it and landed on a knee.
He threw four large energy blasts into the darkness and all were just swallowed
whole. Brian leapt forward through the dark, but was blasted back.
“Where are Shindari and Violette?” Kyle asked.
“They’re not your concern,” the Demon mage responded. Kyle felt a chill nearby.
He lit his aura a bit more, but the darkness increased to match him and he
stood alone in the dark, completely exposed. “But they’re safe. I granted them
passage to the floors above, as was the plan.”
“We didn’t know Rafael recruited another Demon Pillar,” Kyle said. “Guess we’ve
got just one more to deal with.”
“A Demon Pillar?” the Demon mage asked. “Don’t treat me with such disrespect.
It’s true I’m a Demon mage, but I’m much more than that, Kyle Raiden of the
Nexus.”
Kyle gulped and looked around. He felt a little cold before, but when the mage
said his full name, he felt almost frozen in place. Kyle powered up, projecting
all the light he could from his body until his opponent finally became clear. A
shadow, in the shape of a man, stared back at him from the center of the room.
“Who are you?” Kyle asked.
“I am Faustus,” the Demon mage said. “The first Demon mage.”
Next time: The final
battle against Rafael! The Magus War comes to an end in “Blue Nexus #75 –
Greatest Magus”
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