The Custodes

Chapter 14 - The Power Of Darkness

"What exactly is it you did to him again?" Axel said, scratching his head in slight puzzlement as he looked straight ahead at Zuro's frozen form a few feet away. Neo stood to the left and a little bit behind the boy with Synthia beside him, while Kayla stood on Axel's other side as she too examined Zuro. "I sent him forward in time. Two hours forward, to be exact. Meaning we've still got a good hour or so until he breaks out of his...predicament." She gestured to his perfectly still form, then glanced at Axel to see if he was still confused. "Can we hurt him?" He asked, looking at Kayla questioningly, but it was Neo who spoke "I already tried it. He practically absorbed the hit I threw at him without being damaged in the slightest. It's like time itself is protecting him." "Alright. So then what do we do with him?" Axel pondered aloud, looking around at the other three before glancing back across the park to where Noah and Kelsie were standing together, talking quietly. When Neo had left them Noah was making sure Kelsie was alright after how much she exerted herself when healing everyone, while she did all she could to calm his worries. And she most definitely had exerted herself. Every single one of them was now completely healed and fully energised, though the toll it had taken on Kelsie's body was fairly large. She'd even healed Kayla's bruised jaw in her thoroughness, as a thanks for the girl using her powers to reset her body no matter how persistent she was that she didn't need it. Not long after his arm finished healing Axel woke up, confused and concerned about the fight seemingly ending until the others explained everything to him. After this Kayla ended up coming clean to her friends about everything she had learned from Hector; including the two years trimmed off her life, the way the going back in time worked, and the fact she'd learned how to use her powers on people and objects other than herself. They all seemed especially surprised and concerned about her life being eaten away, but despite Axel's questioning Kayla adamantly told them she didn't know how she accumulated so many years off her life and said nothing more on it. Neo decided to walk off and take a look at Zuro, with Synthia choosing to join him, until not long after Axel and Kayla both approached leading to the conversation they were having. "Can't we keep him like this? Frozen I mean. Just send him a million years into the future or something." Synthia said, her voice sounding weary despite the energy boost that came with Kelsie's healing. "I don't have a clue what that would do to him or me." Kayla answered, shaking her head and chewing her lip "Plus, that would only be delaying the issue. We can't just send him forward to a whole new generation of innocent people to slaughter, either on this planet or another." "We can still leave him here can't we? Leave him like this, come back after a few months when we've trained to our full potential, then put him down for good." Neo said, looking into the red eyes stuck staring down indefinitely. "We can't do that." Axel said, turning to look at Neo "Think about it. We leave him here and he'll be discovered the next day no matter what we do to try stop it. After that, people will start thinking he's no longer a threat and come rushing back into the city. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he became the next biggest tourist attraction. It would mean that when we came back to fight him there'd be a lot of civilians in the nearby areas, and probably in this park itself. We wouldn't be able to protect all of them and there would be casualties. If we're going to finish this, we need to do it now." There was a short silence as they each glanced among themselves, trying to see if one of them was going to back down from the task, but as always not one of them looked anything less than determined. "We can't risk fighting him again." Synthia said, rubbing her arm slightly as she looked from Neo to her brother to Zuro "He'll kill us this time, no doubt about it." "She's right. Kayla, can you unfreeze Zuro on command?" Axel asked, looking at her with a curious expression. Kayla considered it for a second, looking at Zuro, then gave a small nod "I think I can." "Great. That gives us a huge advantage. He'll be momentarily surprised when he wakes up, and that's when we'll hit him with all we've got." Axel stated firmly, punching a fist into his palm for emphasis. "I think it's definitely the best chance we've got." Neo said, scratching his chin as he thought about it "We should go for it. Worst case scenario we don't manage to kill him and finish the job once he's been weakened." "Looks like we're settled then. I'll go explain the plan to Kelsie and Noah, then we'll get this bastard." Axel said to the group before turning and heading towards the other pair. Kayla watched Zuro as she considered the plan they had, and any possible ones to back them up, while Synthia inhaled deeply to try and psych herself up for the next stage of the fight. Neo however was far more concerned for his companion's wellbeing than the actual fight itself, and chose to voice those worries to both girls "Listen I-...try to keep an open mind when I say this, but once Zuro's been woken up I think you two should get away from here - and take Kelsie with you." "What?!" Kayla spun to look at him, immediately irritated, while Synthia simply glanced down at the ground in uncertainty. "What makes you think you have the right-" "Just listen to me okay?" Neo said, cutting her off so he could explain his point "Kelsie can't fight with her powers, and neither can you Kayla, unless you've made contact with that person. If things go south, there's no way Zuro will be as lenient as last time. He'll know how big an issue letting Kelsie heal is, and he'll know not to let you get close enough to him. That puts you two in extreme danger. And you Synthia...you know how hurt you got. I looked into your eyes and thought the life would fade from them at any second, and I don't want things to come that close again." Synthia looked up at this in surprise, but her features became more firm as she opened her mouth to obviously defend herself. Before she could however, Kayla erupted into a rant "If I remember correctly, I'm the one who saved your life. And Kelsie saved everyone else's at that! Just because the three of us are girls doesn't mean we're useless, and you don't get to send us away just like that." "That's not what I was doing! I-" Neo tried to counter argue but Kayla didn't give him the chance "You Axel and Noah all came close to death yourselves. If it weren't for us, you would be dead. Stop acting like we're helpless and gives us some credit! We're going to beat this guy together, or not at all, and you of all people are not going to assert yourself into control and choose who-" "Alright! Haven't you belittled me enough already?!" Neo suddenly shouted above Kayla, clenching his fists by his sides, but not out of anger "Give me a fucking break! All I want is to stop seeing the people I care about get hurt! Is that too much to ask?!" Kayla actually looked somewhat surprised by Neo's outburst, but simply clenched her jaw and turned away from him rather than say anything else on the matter. He took a deep breath and and closed his eyes for a second, focusing on trying to stop his emotions from overwhelming him, and slowly unclenched his fists. He stood still for a few seconds but opened his eyes in surprise as a hand slipped into his own. He looked to see Synthia standing beside him, looking up at him as she gave his hand a small squeeze before flashing a halfhearted, almost unnoticeable smile "I'm staying by your side no matter what, kay? Please don't ask me to go away, cause I'm really trying to be strong here." Neo didn't know what to say for a second, simply staring down at her, before he gave the tiniest nod and let a soft smile come to his face "Okay. We'll do this, right? Together." "Of course." Synthia said confidently, her smiling widening just a little before she glanced behind Neo, spotting Axel Noah and Kelsie walking over. Neo let her hand fall away from his as the other three approached, with Axel moving to speak to Synthia a little bit away while Kelsie walked over to Kayla. Noah approached Neo, flashing him a small smile before standing shoulder to shoulder with him as they faced Zuro. "You try convince they to leave?" Noah asked without turning, much to Neo's surprise. "How'd you know?" He said as he looked at him in confusion, only being met with a chuckle "I'm psychic. How'd it go for you?" "Take a wild guess. They're still here aren't they? I doubt I put up a very convincing argument." Neo said with a sigh, rubbing his forehead as he started to think that maybe bringing his thoughts up to Kayla and Synthia wasn't the best idea. "Yeah, Kelsie wasn't too keen on it either. Even arguing with two again one. And as harrowing as it is knowing they could get hurt, having them stick by us is kinda comforting." Noah stated as he looked over at Kayla and Kelsie, watching them as they spoke for a second. "Yeah." Neo said, shoving his hands in his pockets as he leaned his head back "It kinda is. Now we just gotta hope we can pull this off. For the city's sake and ours." Suddenly Axel's hands clamped down on both Neo and Noah's shoulders as he looked between them with a small, encouraging smile "We've got this guys. This prick doesn't stand a chance." "I sure hope you're right." Noah chimed, smirking slightly as he glanced at Axel. "You can bet your ass I'm right. Now, lets get in position. Time to send this bastard straight back to hell." Axel said, his face becoming just a tad bit more serious as he moved to stand a few good feet behind Zuro, pointing both arms at him. "Make sure you charge it up to the absolute max." Kayla said, standing beside Zuro as she placed two fingers against his shoulder "One clear shot. Gotta be as big as possible." Neo, Noah and Synthia all took up position on different sides of Zuro, ready to unleash their own attacks as soon as Axel's landed, while Kelsie stood a short distance away, far further back than any of the others. "Kayla make sure you get away the second you drop it okay? It would be very bad if you ended up getting hit in the crossfire." Noah said to her, to which she gave a firm nod. "Alright Kay. Count us down." Synthia said, both hands locked on Zuro as she kept her feet as firmly planted on the ground as possible. Axel was charging up his beams now, to the point where they were completely full and seemed to be straining his arms terrible, but all he could do was grin and bear it. "Alright guys. Three." Everyone visibly tensed, standing in defensive positions as their eyes stared unblinking at their one and only target. Axel gritted his teeth tight, arms trembling visibly as his power threatened to overwhelm him completely. "Two." Kayla's fingers were only just brushing against Zuro, but she knew it was more than enough to bring him back to the present and cancel out his future trajectory. "One..." Neo clenched his hands tight, darkness swirling around them as he channelled as much energy as he could into his hands, ready to fire all sorts of bolts at beams at Zuro. He heard Noah's electricity charging up beside him, as well as Axel's powers ringing out loudly across the park, as though screaming to break free. The boy tried with all his might to suppress it, but suddenly shouted out in anguish right as Kayla gave the final signal "Now!" A sound like a volcanic eruption screamed through the air, a blinding red light accompanying it as Axel's duel beams merged together to form one enormous, continuous blast which slammed into Zuro's form. Neo shielded his eyes on pure impulse with one arm, dread filling him almost immediately as he started to think about how impossible it would've been for Kayla to get away in time. He looked at the beam, eyes starting to adjust to the brightness as he searched for her before he managed to spot her form running towards Kelsie on the other side of Zuro. His body filled with relief, but he was thrown back into the chaos right away in hearing Noah shout "Neo! We need to fire at Zuro! Now!" Neo looked where he'd last seen Zuro, finding nothing but the huge beam blasting across the park, until suddenly his eyes locked onto a charred outline right in the centre of it. He knew it had to be Zuro, so on Noah's command he began firing all he had at it. His beams of darkness hammered into the man's form, being joined on other sides by blasts of metal and striking bolts. To Neo it felt like they fired into Zuro for hours, but only half a minute actually passed by. Axel's beam slowly weakened as they all watched Zuro's form in anticipation, hoping that his torment would finally be over. The beam grew more and more dull, shrinking away until it dissipated into nothing, leaving a huge trench in the grass that reached all the way across the park. The only thing left standing was a horribly burned mass of flesh that faintly resembled a man, though blackened and scorched beyond recognition and littered with horrible splotches of bubbling blood. Neo breathed heavily, finally lowering his arms after exerting most of his energy in attacking, and watched Zuro as he still stood upright, waiting to see if any sort of movement would come from him. Only after a second did he realise he was in fact moving, his shoulders heaving very slightly as though he were panting for breath - but there was surely no way any part of his body still worked. He also appeared to be in a different position from when Kayla had him frozen; his skinless arms were now raised in front of him in a defensive motion and he was facing the complete opposite way than before. It seemed like he had turned towards Axel right before, or even while, he was hit, and coupled with his raised arms a question suddenly manifested in Neo's mind. Zuro hadn't tried to...block the beam, had he? The imagine of Zuro catching one of Axel's beams earlier and completely negating its damage sprang into the forefront of Neo's mind, and, although he clearly hadn't managed to do it to same extent this time, there was a chance he'd done it just enough to keep him alive - if barely. "Neo!" Axel's voice rang out across the park, causing Neo's head to snap in his direction. The boy's arms hung loosely by his sides, and even in the dim lighting Neo could tell that he'd practically ripped them off with that last attack. It looked as though both limbs were attached to his shoulders by a thread - meaning he almost definitely broke more than a few bones - so it was looking like he wouldn't be able to fire a single other beam until he got them healed. Despite his state Axel looked as determined as ever, looking from Zuro over to Neo to meet his direct gaze, seemingly almost intimidating serious "He's still alive! Finish the job, now! Don't dare let him get another chance to heal!" Neo kept his gaze on Axel for another split second, then without even nodding in acknowledgement bolted towards Zuro as though his body was moving for him. In an instant he was across the grass and practically on top of the man, a short sword in one hand and a spearheaded knuckle duster on the other. Without letting him think Neo brought his sword swinging down on top of Zuro, who only had the chance to raise his arm to block it in the tiny window of opportunity. Despite his injuries the man was still imperceptibly quick, but it seemed as though his true limits had been lowered exponentially which gave Neo all the confidence he needed to outpace him. His sword sunk clean into Zuro's flesh, embedding itself in it and causing a spray of arterial blood to hit the boy in the face, but there was no way something like that would deter him. He swung his other fist upwards, the spearhead pointed lethally at Zuro's neck, and although the man jolted his head backwards to dodge Neo still managed to pierce straight up into his skull. Although his mangled face contorted in pain, Zuro's mouth was far too horrifically damaged to let him shout out. Neo dragged him forward with both embedded weapons, preventing his escape and letting the boy drive his knee up into his abdomen. Just before he did so he conjured a sharp blade atop his kneecap, which plunged through the man's stomach and out the other end. It vanished to allow Neo's leg to pull back again, but left a gaping, gushing hole in amongst Zuro's charred skin, which the man immediately gripped. Neo retracted both hands and jumped backwards, landing steadily as he watched Zuro and prepared for either an escape attempt or a counterattack. Neither came however, with the man simply clutching his bleeding neck and stomach as Neo stared on, unmoving for a second. He was starting to feel exactly what he feared he would, something he'd known would cause problems and maybe even deaths from the very start. Sympathy. He wasn't like Zuro, or Nexus, - someone who could kill without a second thought or any hint of mercy - he was just a kid who wanted to save innocent lives. He didn't want to kill, no matter how justified it was. And now, seeing how helpless and at his mercy Zuro was, he felt sorry for the man and the unimaginable pain that had been inflicted on him. Which is why - even staring into the face of a horrific murderer who deserved no less than an excruciating death for all the crimes he'd committed - Neo hesitated. And that was all Zuro needed. In the single second the boy had spent getting distracted he lunged at him, a charged red beam firing right from his palm. To Neo, the world seemed to move in slow motion for that single moment. Zuro's disfigured features were clear as day in front of him, twisted in what could well have been either rage or amusement, and the beam flew towards him with such speed that he already knew there was no way he'd avoid it. The thought of raising his hands had only just entered his mind as the beam came within a few inches of his chest and it seemed like his instincts, too, had been caught off guard in his moment of weakness. Neo expected to feel his chest erupt open in the next instant, but to his surprise a spark filled the air and the beam collided with a shimmering wall only centimetres away from Neo's flesh. His vision filled with flames as the beam exploded into the electrical barrier, shaking it slightly before it evaporated into practically nothingness. The next thing Neo saw was Zuro being hit straight in the chest by a sparking fist and go stumbling backwards, only for a large metal sword to swing down into his shoulder blade from behind. Noah and Synthia had come to his rescue, but Neo didn't have a second to waste wallowing in relief. He dove right back into the fight, conjuring up his own blade which he immediately sliced at Zuro's face. "We're finishing this!" He shouted to Noah and Synthia right as Zuro blocked his sword with his palm, but even without looking at them he knew they'd push themselves to their limits to end it here. With the three of them all attacking at once Zuro never stood a chance, which was evident by his almost sloppy movements and half-assed counterattacks. His swings were still rapid and no doubt hit like a truck, but the trio were so incredibly focused and coordinated that he couldn't land a single one, all while they hit him with various attacks. It was clear that wherever Zuro came from his body wasn't made up the same way a human's was, as with the amount of blood he'd lost and organs that would've no doubt been punctured or obliterated entirely there was no way he should've been conscious at that moment, never mind fighting. Neo punched at his face with a dark fist, but Zuro ducked backwards out of the way just in time. Unfortunately for him that left his side open, leading to Synthia sticking him with a sharp metal pike right in the ribs. Noah sliced downwards with his hand, bringing a sharp electrical beam striking downwards on Zuro from his fingertips and trying to pierce across his chest. The man moved under Noah's arm rapidly to escape the attack and also formed an opening in the circle the trio had encased him in, but without hesitation Synthia darted back in front of him to throw a heavy mental punch at his jaw. It connected with a horrible squelching sound as Zuro spun in place, only halted by Noah's blade of electricity driving up through the man's chest. While he was stuck in place Synthia coated the tip of her foot in a metal blade and drove it into the back of Zuro's knee, forcing him to collapse onto it in a brutally painful manner. Neo was behind him now, raising his dark blade up, and from over the man's shoulders he met Noah and Synthia's gazes for an instant, immediately understanding what they wanted him to do. They were finishing it, like he'd said. The two had set up the perfect chance to strike, and had Zuro exactly where he needed to be for the killing blow to land. All that was needed was for someone to execute it, and this time Neo wasn't going to hesitate. With all his strength and speed he brought the blade down, planning on driving it clean through Zuro's neck and ending his torment on the city forever. It was impossible for him to miss, and even if Zuro did notice him coming there was no way in hell he'd be able to move in time. It was going to end, finally. No more people had to die. Zuro would be the last, and then the people of the city could go and live out their lives. The blade approached Zuro's flesh, screaming through the air and barrelling right down towards it; until suddenly it didn't. The sharp edge of the blade was millimetres from Zuro's neck, though reached no further than that despite the momentum of the swing coupled with Neo's biceps bulging with strain as he pushed down on the sword. "NO!" He shouted out in anguish, anger and defeat filling his voice as he immediately knew who was stopping his sword in mid air. Of course he knew, it was the same invisible barrier that had blocked numerous of his hits before. Just as he was about to try and muster up another attack the barrier pushed towards him, becoming a huge wall of air that slammed into him and sent him sprawling back away from Zuro before falling to the grass. Neo immediately looked towards the man as a figure now arrived by his side, his grey tinted black locks illuminated by the park lights as Noah and Synthia's faces filled with realisation at who he was. Before they even had the chance to turn away from Zuro however, Nexus' palms shot out towards each of them and caused them both to fly backwards in the exact same way Neo had, all three of them now a good few metres away from Zuro. "Looks like I arrived at the right time." Neo still managed to hear Nexus say, returning his hands to his sides as he glanced at Zuro "The fuck happened to you?" Of course, Zuro never spoke, but even at a distance Neo saw the man's eyes tighten with unhinged fury, before locking directly on his. He pointed a single finger at Neo, glaring him down with burning menace before turning to make sure Nexus understood. "Alright, I'll keep the others off you. But you better do what you need to and then get the fuck out of here - I won't be sticking around very long." Nexus said, before looking over at Synthia and Noah as Zuro turned back to Neo without a moment's hesitation. The boy jumped to his feet but Zuro was already sprinting right at him, though Neo had a feeling he'd be able to take him yet again thanks to his weakened state. His hands coated in darkness, but just then Zuro's charred body erupted with red tendrils, like they were coming out of every single inch of flesh on him. Every single one flew towards Neo, causing his eyes to widen in shock at the sheer enormity of the mass of them. "Neo!" Synthia cried out as she saw how little chance the boy had of getting away from the tendrils, before running towards him as fast as she could. It wasn't fast enough it seemed, as before she'd even made it halfway there Nexus flicked his wrist and sent another wall of air right into her. She flew back again, immediately winded as she slammed into the ground, but while she had gone for Neo Noah had gone for Nexus himself. He sparked into existence behind him and immediately sent a bolt at the man's back, but Nexus' instincts were far too quick for it. He was already spinning when Noah fired the bolt and managed to catch it in his own palm with a wall of air, diminishing it completely. Noah used his other hand to attempt to stab Nexus in the side with a blade while he was distracted, but his hand was already pointed at the blade before it came close to touching him, and that was enough. He sent a concentrated bolt of air right at it from his palm, hitting the flat side of the blade with a huge amount of force that tore it from Noah's hand and sent it far away from the two of them. Nexus pulled his leg back and feigned for a kick to Noah's head, but there was no way the boy was going to fall for the same trick twice. He spun and caught Nexus' foot with both hands as it struck out towards his ribs, but with both hands occupied there was nothing to stop Nexus' next attack. The man threw his right palm forward towards Noah's face, and although it stopped short of reaching, the shot of solid air that came with it did not. Noah was hit with a horribly powerful blast square in the face that made his head jolt up for a second before remaining perfectly still, his grip on Nexus' leg loosening completely as his body toppled backwards and lay in the grass, unmoving. Synthia got up for a second time and sprinted towards Nexus this time, fists clenching as she prepared for a fight, but she couldn't even fire a single beam as a brutal wall hit her yet again. She hit the ground in a less violent way this time, but she knew that if she kept getting up she'd be met with the exact same resistance over and over again, and the demoralisation she felt in knowing this crushed her spirit entirely. It was all she could do to raise her head slightly and watch in horror at what was happening with Neo. He'd done all he can to deal with the tendrils, slicing and firing at them with everything he had, but the quantity of them was something that couldn't be rivalled. He was caught by the wrists, then the ankles, then his throat began to be crushed as he was pulled into the air. Any unoccupied tendrils retracted back into Zuro, but the ones holding Neo were enough to diminish any resistance he was putting up. Zuro walked towards him in a completely unthreatened fashion, stopping right in front of him so that they were face to face. He raised his hand, moving it closer to Neo's head as his forefinger began to glow red and a tendril wrapped around the boy's mouth just as he was about to cry out. His fingertip got closer and closer to his forehead, until finally it pressed against it and Neo started to scream into the tendril. He felt his mind started to link to Zuro's ever so slowly, until he could hear the man's voice prominently in his head "Torture. That was my only goal in coming here. And now, I'll carry it out without any further complications." Fear flashed through Neo's mind, but it was hurriedly forgotten about as his vision filled with pictures and thoughts - memories that weren't his but that he was seeing through what felt like his own eyes. It took him a second to understand but eventually the realisation that they were Zuro's memories hit him, as well as the fact that they were memories he had specifically chosen to be shown to him. Neo was forced to watch as he dropped down in front of a building, a large one that towered over him despite the fact he could destroy it with a flick of his wrist. He walked casually through the front door, examining the place as it opened up into a carpeted lobby type room, though with toys and colouring in books scattered about the floor, most of which were in the hands of children blissfully playing with each other. "Hi there, welcome to Hillshine Children's Orphanage. Are you here looking to adopt?" He looked over to where a woman stood holding a baby, an apron wrapped around her with the building's logo printed on the front and the phrase 'Lets all shine like the stars!' printed underneath it. He said nothing to her, simply looking down the hallway to his right, then the stairway to his left, then around at the children playing all over the room. A lone thought entered his mind. Yes. This is where I'll start. "Excuse me, is there something you need, sir?" The woman never got to say another word. His beam had already fired straight through her head, obliterating it as he turned his attention towards the children on the floor. Most of them screamed, a lot of them cried, and a few even tried to run. But he left none alive. Not one. He went through each and every one finding new ways to snuff out their life, until not a single living person remained in the building except him. And it barely even took him an hour. He did a final lap of the building, admiring his own work as he examined the blood stained walls, beds, floors, wardrobes, windows, curtains, doors, lamps, ceilings, carpets, and bodies. Lots of bodies. Innumerable. Majority of them scattered about in several pieces. And Neo saw it all - every bit - as though he had done it himself. Simply doing it and having him hear over the news wasn't enough for Zuro. He wanted him to live in it. To see what he saw, to feel exactly what he felt when he did it. And he wanted it to destroy him. Once the memories had transferred successfully Zuro pulled his finger away from Neo's head and let the tendrils discard him to the ground, expecting to watch him lay sprawled out as he screamed in horror, or curled in on himself as he wept for hours. He didn't get his wishes though. Neo landed on his hands and knees, fingernails clawing the dirt and scraping them up in a horrible fashion, digging so deep that it was a miracle they didn't snap off completely. Zuro watched him in curiosity, but the next thing he knew he'd been cracked across the face by the force of a train, sending him crashing across the park nearly over to the tree line. He was stunned momentarily, simply laying half embedded in the ground, but came to his senses right as he was grabbed by the torso and pulled up into the air. Neo's features stared right at him, his face a mask of complete terror-inducing rage, but the only thing Zuro could see were his eyes. His pupils had changed completely, they were no longer the black pools they had been before. Now they were flames. Dark, abyssal black ones, burning and shimmering as clear as anything and taking up almost the entirety of the white canvases that were his eyeballs. Unblinking, Neo brought his fist up and hammered it right down into Zuro's face, sending him colliding into the dirt again and burying him even deeper into it. It ended up messing his face up even more than it already was, leaving just a mush of repulsing twitching flesh. There was no trace of any features anymore, leaving Zuro no way to see when the next blows was coming. And they definitely came. Neo hit him again, pummelling his chest, then again in his face, and before he knew it he was bringing his fists crashing down more times than he could count, bashing Zuro's form into something completely unrecognisable. The mass of flesh that used to be him lay in a pool of blood in the small crater formed in the ground, not so much as twitching anymore. Neo heard footsteps running across the park and turned to look in their direction, spotting Synthia as she made her way across the grass, her expression filled with concern for him. She was thrown backwards again, crying out as one of Nexus' attacks hit her clean on. Again. That was the third time. Neo had been somewhat preoccupied when the first two had happened, but he remembered seeing Synthia as she ran across the park, only to be met with brutal hits both times. And in his enraged state the usual concern, panic, and upset from seeing her hurt all surged to the surface and took form of one burning, all consuming emotion. Anger. "NEXUS!" Neo's voice boomed across the park, his eyes locking on his older brother who was standing as casually as ever next to Noah's unconscious form. The boy's hands swirled with darkness, though a far more unhinged and sporadic kind than his usual, one which jolted and cracked unevenly around him. Just as he turned to face Nexus he froze, his seemingly heightened sense of hearing picking up a sound from Zuro's corpse. Almost like something sliding along the dirt, and when he turned back to look he saw tendrils covering the mound of flesh that he'd pummelled into the ground, filling every inch just like Zuro had done previously right before he teleported. "NO YOU DON'T!" Neo yelled with fury as he spun and punched straight down with his fist, the darkness around it bursting out like a miniature explosion to obliterate anything it touched. Thing is, the only thing it managed to touch was dirt. The darkness faded and all Neo saw was his fist embedded in the ground, the only trace of Zuro's form left behind being the splatters of blood around the crater. His body shook with a multitude of emotions at the defeat of letting Zuro get away, but yet again they all bubbled together into that single feeling. Like a flash Neo shot across the park, covering fifty metres in a split second as he bolted clean at Nexus, his fist already swinging down on the man. Nexus tried to sidestep but knew it wouldn't be enough, instead raising his palms to lock a huge barrier of air in front of Neo's fist, one that was far far more reinforced than the ones he'd used before. Neo's punch hit straight into it, met with only a sliver of resistance before he shattered it entirely, his fist flying right past Nexus with unimaginable strength. The slight resistance it put up was enough to let Nexus get away it seemed, but the man's features were wide with shock as he hurried to put as much distance between him and Neo as he could, the sheer force of the blow brushing past him being enough to knock Nexus off balance. "How the hell did you-...You shouldn't be anywhere near that powerful." He stated, still momentarily stunned as Neo spun around yet again, crossing the distance between them rapidly and swinging for Nexus' head. He had a split second to hit the ground and roll, narrowly avoiding yet another hit that would no doubt destroy him if it made contact. "I know when I'm out of my depth Neo. Unlike you." He said, standing up again as Neo bolted at him, fist striking out to pummel his chest. The instant before it connected however, Nexus disappeared, his teleportation trick working just in time to avoid the blow. Neo fell to the ground due to the momentum of the swing, his eyes immediately darting around the park to see where Nexus had gone. After a second of searching however he knew it was fruitless - the boy was long gone, no doubt halfway across the city by now. Neo stood up straight, watching emotionlessly as Kelsie ran to Noah, shaking her head frantically to herself as tears spilled down her cheeks. Axel followed behind her, his focus also on their friend, while Kayla simply stood still halfway across the park, almost like she didn't quite know what to do with herself. Neo's burning eyes locked with her brown ones despite how far apart they were, and as Neo took a step towards her it seemed she finally made up her mind. She stepped back, eyes still watching his, until in one sudden movement she turned around and took off running towards the park entrance, not so much as glancing back at him. That was when it all hit Neo. The memories of the orphanage slaughter suddenly came to the forefront of his mind, and the flames in his eyes slowly began to shrink until they were completely normal again. Which also led to all his emotions being back to normal again. Neo stared blankly ahead, images of what he'd seen - what was now permanently stained into his mind - flashing through his vision and causing him to fall down to his knees. He leaned forward, face pressing down against the cold dirt, and let out an animalistic, guttural wail. The sound echoed across the park, all the grief and anguish he felt coming with it and hanging in the air all around him for a few long seconds, until he sucked in a gasping breath, slumped forward, and sobbed his heart out. He was vaguely aware of Synthia being by his side a minute later, pulling him into her just like he'd done on their first meeting, but he gave her no acknowledgement and simply cried and cried and cried in her arms. He had no sense of how much time had passed. Eventually someone lay a hand on his shoulder and the environment around him changed to somewhere indoors, but that didn't stop him from seeing it all; all the children in the orphanage, where their bodies lay, exactly what had happened to each and every one of them and the torturous manner in which they'd all been killed. Thankfully however, exhaustion showed him mercy, and before he knew it his living nightmares fell away and were replaced by the familiar abyss of a deep, lonesome sleep.