Gravitic Maiden pulled her arms back. "'Lamenting March…'" The space in front of her wavered, bending like reflections on restless water. She thrust her arms forward, and a low tremor rattled the ground before a distortion, two meters wide, surged ahead, rippling outward with crushing force.
Genos reacted on instinct, kicking the disoriented Mumen Rider out of the attack's range. Before he could attempt to dodge, the attack struck him. An all-encompassing force pressed down, and his body rocketed backward, crashing into the pavement. The pressure of his newfound weight caused a trench to form as he was propelled away.
This amount of friction will grind away my body! He struggled to move his arms, feeling as though they weighed a ton. With great effort, he raised his hands, pinkie fingers pressed together side-by-side, palms faced in the direction he was moving. Without hesitation, he released an 'Incineration Cannon' above him, the fiery energy blazing out as he tried to halt his momentum. However…
How?! I should be slowing down at least. I can't fail here. I won't!
Suddenly, the gravity-like energy vanished, and he came to a stop. Shooting to his feet, he realized he had been blown back dozens of meters.
He had no time to process what had happened. A glance back at the intersection showed Gravitic Maiden wasn't even looking at him. She drifted toward a defenseless Mumen Rider, lying on his stomach, dazed and unresponsive, eyes fixed on the carnage at the center of the intersection.
"'Accelerate!'" Genos vanished and reappeared beside her, readying an all-out assault. Sparks and arcs of plasma crackled around his arms as he drew back his fist.
Her voice flowed out, calm and unhurried. "'Waning Horizon…'" The surrounding space rippled in an ever-shifting pattern, as if a translucid tide flowed around her body.
Not giving her a chance to act, Genos roared. "'Machine Gun Blows!'" His arms became a blur, fists hammering forward in a relentless storm. The sheer speed made it seem as if countless fists rained down at once.
Yet, none landed. His punches twisted off course, veering away. Strikes that should have hit slid past her, pulled to either side by an unseen force.
No good! I can't hit her through this distorted air.
Unable to jump back because of being airborne, Genos ceased his 'Machine Gun Blows' and extended his arms forward. "'Incinerate!'"
To his dismay, the concentrated beam of flame split in two as it struck the space around her, curving around her body and reconnecting before annihilating a distant bookstore.
"You… Still Perdure… My psychokinetic gravity's grasp liberated from. Abnormal. Inaugural."
Psychokinetic? She's an Esper? Genos now understood the reason he had escaped her 'Lamenting March.' Willpower. His training had yielded results!
Genos activated his 'Search Eye,' analyzing the clear psychic gravity rippling around her. As well as the dozens of bone-white wisps that orbited her figure, their purpose unclear. How could he bypass her defenses? He still didn't fully grasp how to deploy his strengthened willpower. Did he have to believe in it? Feel desperation?
Gravitic Maiden didn't remain idle. "'Parting Liturgy…'" Her fingers plucked the air, each motion sending a shiver through the space ahead. After several plucks, the shivering space morphed into a vertical razor-like line of psychic gravity. Simultaneously, a low, mournful melody resonated not through the air but directly into Genos' body.
I can't move! He didn't know what she did. Her powers were unlike anything he had gone up against. What could he do? Think, think, but what? What ability of his could prevent whatever was about to happen? Even if he could activate his 'Incinerator' at maximum power, Mumen Rider would be caught in the explosion's range and perish.
The soundless liturgy pressed harder into his existence, the strength of it sinking beneath his metal plating and coiling deep within his core, enveloping it from all sides, the pressure growing stronger every second.
Genos urgently tried to twist or move his body, but nothing worked. Is she trying to collapse my core!?
The compression force on his core increased. Realizing it couldn't handle more, his gaze focused on her face, trying to glance past her silvery-white hair and into her eyes.
Without warning, the vertical razor-like line of psychic gravity shot toward him, pushing aside the space in its path.
"'Lightning Eye!'" A blinding flash of searing light flooded the area. The pressure on Genos' core abated, and Gravitic Maiden let out a horrid shriek.
Move!
He tilted his body left, elbows facing right, and activated his boosters. The sudden propulsion shuttling him leftward just as the razor-like line sliced through the spot he had occupied. Its silent edge cleaved through the street, leaving behind a thin, gaping fracture in the ground. It passed through the center of the intersection, cutting through several crumpled vehicles with zero resistance, continuing forward until it ceased its destruction one hundred meters out.
Genos, still propelled by his boosters, swung his arms out in the direction he was traveling and activated the boosters on his palms, allowing him to stop and then rush forward toward Gravitic Maiden. Her hands covered her face as she thrashed in the air. Seeing the psychic gravity field around her had vanished. He knew this was his best chance.
His speed brought him to her in an instant. He clasped his hand around her skull, trying to pull her to the ground, but her body didn't budge. Undeterred, he shouted. "'High Voltage Fist!'"
Genos' arms glowed with intense yellow-white energy, crackling with blue electrical currents. The utter voltage output drowned out Gravitic Maiden's shrieks, her entire form covered in yellow and blue lightning streaks that snapped outward chaotically.
"'Gravitational Repudiation!'" she screamed.
Genos couldn't react before his body soared upward at breakneck speed, unable to stabilize against the unexpected attack. His 'Hyper Sensors' strained to process his predicament, recalibrating mid-air as he fought to regain control. Only after he activated a mix of his boosters on his shoulders, elbows, and palms did he stabilize himself in the air.
Glancing down, he estimated his height to be close to three hundred meters.
As his eyes scanned the intersection and streets below, he was shocked to find she had disappeared.
I'm not falling back down?
No, his body was hovering in place.
"Death… End! Expiration… Quietus!"
Genos spun around in the air.
Gravitic Maiden poised several meters away. Her appearance scorched and ghastly while smoke rose from her. But what caused Genos to tense were the bone-white wisps orbiting her figure, now gathering above her head until they resembled a star-flecked night sky.
"Perish… Avengement!" Her charred, unrecognizable appearance shifted. "'Stellary Judgment!'" In response, one of the bone-white wisps effulged before disappearing.
Genos felt an invisible force pass through his left shoulder. Looking down, his eyes widened as a large hole appeared there.
My left shoulder booster!
Gravitic Maiden released a dreadful laugh. "Irksome creations adorn you… One now felled!"
Was he to float here and die?
Another bone-white wisp effulged and disappeared, this time passing through his left elbow. He could only watch as the bottom half of his arm plummeted onto Z-City's streets.
This can't be it. Can't be. Can't be. I can't allow it! No! No! No! An unseen change occurred in Genos.
Once again, a bone-white wisp disappeared, but instead of passing through, the wisp reappeared and dissolved in front of him.
Gravitic Maiden's scorched form flailed madly in the sky. "Unsound… Unfounded! Untenable!" The remaining bone-white wisps all disappeared and reappeared, sharing the same fate of dissolving into nothing.
All of Genos' remaining boosters launched him toward the frenzied Gravitic Maiden. Using his right arm, he clasped her skull once more, willing them to plummet to the earth. And so they did.
Gravitic Maiden's panicked screams pierced through the violent, whistling winds. "How can this be so!? You have turned leaden! Cumbrous! I cannot affect your form!" Her torched hands clawed and struck Genos' face and chest, to no avail.
The impact that reverberated a breath later against the street… signaled both the death of Gravitic Maiden and the birth of a grand willpower.
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