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Palworld Vs Gantz: Apocalyptic Collision (41)
🕑 Added 2024-03-25 17:25:38 +0000 UTCChapter 41 - A Formidable Foe
"Well now, isn't this interesting..." The fox-woman's smile vanished in an instant.
The moment her gaze flared, Mikaruge retaliated - Dark Pulse slamming into the woman's body at point-blank range and deflected her counterattack.
"Takeshi...hang on, we'll defeat this soon!"
The ogre silently mocked Kaze's reassurance, already tipping its blood-filled cup towards its gaping maw again.
"Reika, stop their bleeding and evacuate everyone you can!"
"Got it..."
Sakurai and Sakata walked side by side, somehow maintaining an outward veneer of composure despite clearly wishing to flee this nightmare. But the enemy allowed no such mercy.
"So that's how it is, huh?" The fox-woman smiled sweetly. "Very well then."
Sakata took a deep, steadying breath the moment she did. "I'll disrupt the thing's insides. Sakurai, you and that weird creature try distracting its attacks for me. It seems that fox can interfere in multiple places at once somehow. Just...try cooperating with me, alright?"
"Understood."
"Ooohhhnnmyooohnn..." Rather than heed Sakata's instructions, Mikaruge swiftly formulated her own strategy.
Two Shadow Balls appeared orbiting her body as she expelled a fierce Ominous Wind from her maw, lacing it with shimmering silver particles.
Unleashing all three techniques simultaneously, she followed up with psychicokinesis in an overwhelming assault, determined to leave no openings. Especially her Silver Wind - that self-damaging move could potentially boost her abilities if it struck home.
But none of the attacks even connected. They dissipated harmlessly before reaching the woman, her invisible barrier deflecting them with ease. Her psychic defenses seeming impervious even to Mikaruge's psychic restraints.
"Oooooooohhhh!"
Redoubling her efforts, Mikaruge realized she would need to utterly exhaust herself to pierce this Psychic-type's formidable mastery.
One of the woman's tails lashed upright, the tip pointing squarely at Mikaruge and her allies.
Her delicate hand stretched out slowly, plucking several strands of fur from that raised tail. Blowing gently across the fur clenched in her palm, the thin strands stiffened into razor-sharp needles that shot forward with blistering speed.
"Block them!" Sakata yelled.
He and Sakurai thrust their hands outward, catching the needles that should have easily pierced their flesh and skulls. But they could not avoid all harm - blood trickled from the lacerations crisscrossing their palms.
"We can do this! Somehow!"
"Have to...restrain the main body..."
While locked in this desperate clash, Mikaruge spared part of her focus observing her temporary human allies. She had never encountered specimens quite like these before. Some misguided individuals had tried mimicking Pokémon moves out of affection in the past, but never successfully by her knowledge. To stumble across two such rarities here was utterly unexpected.
More than her usual mischievous urges, Mikaruge felt an unfamiliar kinship welling up - distinct from her bond with Shirona, yet undeniably present. Analyzing their brains revealed untapped potential still lingering, hints of latent abilities lying dormant...
Following Sakata's earlier suggestion, she shifted her Psychic restraints from crushing the woman to simply restricting her movements instead. Sakurai's efforts synced seamlessly, their combined psychic might smothering in soft, cottony tendrils rather than searing force. An oddly comforting sort of synergy, akin to teamwork with her fellow Pokémon yet somehow more.
Blood began trickling from the corners of Sakata's eyes - he was clearly straining himself to his limits. But the psychological onslaught ravaging the woman's mind seemed worth the exertion. She stumbled forwards, her resistance faltering as she vomited a stream of blood.
"Ara ara, it's all gone dark. The noise has faded too..."
Sensing their chance, Mikaruge poured her all into an overwhelming surge of force. Sakurai followed suit, their combined might poised to obliterate the woman's neural pathways, leaving her an empty shell.
But downy white fur began sprouting across the woman's cheeks - distinctly lighter than her blonde locks. Peering through her lank bangs with slitted, inhuman eyes, a mouthful of needle-sharp fangs glistened wetly as her lolling tongue slicked her blood-slick lips.
"Heh...shall we continue?" A seventh spectral tail unfurled from her lower back.
Sakata seemed the first to sense the shift, a low groan of dismay escaping him. "Nnngghh..." He staggered back, coughing up his own mouthful of blood. Sweat poured down his engorged face in rivers, flushed like an overripe tomato as he teetered on the verge of bursting.
Mikaruge too felt their advantage swiftly reversing. The woman's overwhelming power spiked exponentially, their moment of apparent dominance revealed as but a fleeting illusion. A brutal truth - they had yet to face her full, unbridled might.
"I'd really rather not go that far, you see," the woman said with a wistful sigh. "Becoming more beastly by the moment..." Her full lips curved in a disturbing grin. "Look, you’re gritting your teeth, aren’t you?"
“Ah!” Sakurai's agonized howl split the air as one of his fingers twisted with a sickening crunch. Mikaruge tried retaliating only to realize she could no longer spare any of her concentration elsewhere. Excruciating waves of torment wracked her entire being.
"I wonder...what would happen if I shattered that little bauble of yours?"
The woman's formidable power focused on Mikaruge's Odd Keystone. Though still intact, any further strain risked shattering the device sustaining her fragile, quasi-existence. A primal, existential dread - the one fear that could utterly undo her.
"Die...die...just die already..." Sakata groaned, his mind overwhelmed by the assault.
His hands cracked and fractured, yet he showed no signs of faltering. But their combined efforts could not injure the woman at all. Her momentary blindness and deafness had already repaired itself, shrugging off their desperation as trivial.
Through a gap in the nearby fence, Reika looked on trembling, unable to intervene without worsening the bloodshed.
The man named Kaze crashed through the building's second story, slamming into the ground. The unharmed ogre casually let Takeshi's limp body spill to the floor, as if saving the human boy for dessert after savoring these men. Reika tried dragging Takeshi away only for her legs to give out, leaving them horrifyingly vulnerable.
Sakurai and Sakata were swatted aside like gnats, bodies slamming against the far wall. Their concentration had faltered for but an instant, allowing Mikaruge's psychic restraints to lapse.
“Hmm..” The fox-woman tilted her head inquisitively.
"Ooohhhnn?"
Mikaruge found herself rolling across the ground, dazed. Her Odd Keystone remained intact, yet she could no longer move at all. Her outline wavered unstably for a fleeting moment, as though rejecting her presence from this reality and threatening to unmake her.
"You can start eating now," the woman murmured, nodding towards the ogre with detached boredom. As if considering the battle over.
Yet in that instant, her entire body compressed under an overwhelming gravitational force, smashing her ruthlessly into the pavement.
Her frame shattered completely, only a single severed tail tip left spinning across the shattered road - its crimson stump all that remained of her.
The ogre sensed the attack too late, only just avoiding the blast zone as the area around its former position cratered deeply.
"You..." A familiar figure appeared beside the stunned Reika.
Nishi - if she recalled the strange young man's name correctly. Clad in that same rumpled school uniform over a bodysuit, eyes sunken and hollow.
Mikaruge failed to recognize him through her fading consciousness. She knew he hadn't been part of the Osaka team, at least.
"Well, that's done I suppose," he muttered, attempting to fade back into stealth mode. "Guess that just leaves the boss monster for me to defeat... Wonder how many points that will net?"
"Oohhh? You're being scored now, huh?"
His proud smile soon became distorted with pain. The fox-woman reappeared far too swiftly, she had one of Nishi’s severed forearm clutched in one hand. She casually tossed it aside as though discarding wilted petals, ripping off Nishi's remaining arm with the same negligent ease as tearing flesh from bone.
"Ahhhh, you bastard!"
"Awwww, I was so looking forward to see what you'd do too," she mock-pouted. "Clearly a dud though. I've already gotten bored with you."
Her elaborate kimono had become tattered rags amidst the bloodsoaked arena. Yet her form remained pristine once more, albeit unnaturally luminous in its nakedness. Eight tails fanned behind her now in contrast to the previous seven.
The only one still mobile was Reika. But her paralysis owed more to psychological shock than physical injury. Having witnessed their one-sided decimation from the outset, her mind had taken an immeasurable toll.
The ogre turned its slavering gaze upon her, apparently selecting its next meal. It lumbered forth, drool oozing down its gnarled chops.
Reika could only let out a choked scream as her back hit the fence, sliding helplessly to the ground. The fox-woman disregarded the scene entirely to study Mikaruge's inert form intently instead.
The ogre seized Reika's waist in one meaty paw, her desperate struggles meaningless as it lifted her towards its gaping maw.
Whoosh!
A piercing sonic boom shattered the air as Garchomp blitzed past.
“Baaaaah!” The ogre bellowed in agony as its severed arm tumbled from the Mach Pokémon's glancing Giga Impact, safely catching Reika before landing in a wary crouch, wings unfurled protectively.
The fox-woman's eyes widened with undisguised delight. "Now that is exactly what I've been waiting for! Mind if I take it off your hands?"
Her words trailed off as countless phantom appendages bristled outward. Eyeing the new arrival speculatively, she seemed dimly aware of Mikaruge's attempts to identify this newcomer.
Its draconic shape resembled some ancient strains distantly, akin to the Regi lines of sacred golems from times immemorial. Yet unquestionably distinct.
"Same old song and dance, huh..."
The Eight-time winner, Oka, dismounted his bike, flexing his fingers with a dark scowl.
