AvA: Domination

Chapter 9: The Mistake

King coughed. He couldn't see anything through the dense haze of dust and gravel. The smell of sulfur filled his nose. Applying Night Vision and Swift Sneak to himself, he set off, searching for a clearing.

Finding one, he looked around for any enemies before launching himself into the air... which was a mistake.

Something came hurtling out of nowhere and rammed him head-on. King flew backward and summoned fire to his fists, trying to see who'd hit him, although he already had a pretty good idea about who it was.

A few feet away stood Spartan, and he looked insanely angry; lightning flickered around him, and one of his eyes glowed. He also seemed to be wearing some sort of black suit.

"Did you get armor or something?" King pointed at him.

Spartan cocked his head to one side. "Why do you care?"

And he attacked King with blinding speed- punching him in the back of the head, then kneeing him in the stomach. He quickly looped around King and kicked him in the back of the neck, then summoned energy to his fists and smashed King down to the bottom of the crater he'd created.

King slowly got up. Spartan rushed to smack him in the face, and King tried to stop him. "Ow!" he yelled. Spartan's hands burned like nothing King'd ever touched before. Spartan took the chance to punch King in the stomach, and King went flying.

"You shall not leave," someone growled menacingly.

Spartan turned to see the gray stick approaching him, staff in hand.

"What the heck..." he muttered, then attacked.

Metaphor held his staff in front of himself and spun it around. As Spartan came in for a punch, a laser beam shot forth from the staff's motion blurs, propelling him backward. He landed and, conjuring his sword, went in for another hit.

"Meta, no!" Lorona gasped, seeing this all unfold before her eyes.

Metaphor didn't pay attention to her and prepared his staff- the fatal mistake he made. Spartan's blade cut right through the staff, and Metaphor howled as grey smoke issued from him. Spartan retracted his weapon and watched as Metaphor held a hand to his chest as if in pain, then glitch once, and vanish.

Lorona's whimper shifted into a low hiss. "You...

"You...

"Shall...

"Pay!!"

And she slammed her palms against the ground. Luminescent cracks appeared in the floor, and soon after, rays of light shot out of the cracks. Spartan didn't need to get a closer look to know that they were deadly, even for him.

"You really think you can make me pay?" he taunted, re-conjuring his sword and swooping behind Lorona. Just as he was about to stab downward, however, Lorona disappeared.

"Uh-oh..."

An intoxicatingly-colored light encased Spartan. Lorona had her hand outstretched; she was pointing at Spartan, and one of her eyes glowed. She stood beside Bit, who was hefting his staff, preparing to bat Spartan.

"Agh..." Spartan struggled to draw in energy from his surroundings. A faint ring of light shrank into him, and another explosion rocked the caved-in mountain.

By the time the smoke cleared, the enemy sticks found themselves trapped in green light while Spartan stood over them.

King crossed his arms. "I think you've forgotten something."

Spartan frowned. "What are you-"

The answer came before he could finish his sentence. 327 zoomed in and landed a strong blow on Spartan's stomach, and Spartan flew backward.

The light around the enemy sticks faded. Lorona immediately began summoning an energy ball, but Bit took hold of her wrist.

"What- are you out of your mind?!" Lorona demanded, outraged.

"Let 327 do the work," Bit said calmly.

"But-"

Bit's eye glowed white, and the energy ball died in Lorona's palm. She sighed; Bit rarely became angry- or rather, he rarely became this angry- and every time he became upset, it only made matters worse. There was no stemming Bit's fury once he was enraged; the only two ways he would stop were if he was satisfied or... or if he died. Lorona shuddered at the thought.

327 prepared to grow a Sculk pillar while Spartan summoned fire to his hands. As the dark, sickly substance rose before Spartan's eyes, he swept his hand in front of him. A blaze of orange, and the Sculk was no more... except for 327, of course.

Spartan caught 327 by the shoulder and slammed it to the ground, then, summoning his sword, he plunged it into 327's chest- right where the souls were. Spartan conjured a dozen more ViraSpikes and shot them into 327's body. A few seconds passed, and 327 slowly began to disintegrate.

Spartan turned to King, a malevolent glow in his eye.

King began to sweat. "Uh... got a problemwhOA!!"

Spartan snatched up by the throat and held him firmly.

King stammered, "Wh-what do you think you're-"

Spartan smacked King down hard onto the asphalt and took hold of his wrists.

"What-"

Spartan summoned his sword, slicing through King's wristbands... as well as his wrists.

A strange essence issued from the bands and into King's wounds. He howled, and a sonic wave knocked Spartan backward. Spartan got up, massaging his temples, and looked up.

King was doing some really weird movements- holding his hands to his temples, crouching, spoodering...

Spartan made a "tsh" sound. "What the heck is this guys s'posed to be-"

Suddenly, King glitched so that he faced Spartan. He'd lost his colors- including his crown.

"Um... Is that dust you're covered in, or-" Spartan began.

With blinding speed, King punched Spartan in the gut, knocking the wind right out of him.

The other enemy sticks stared, then held hands and teleported away silently.

Spartan breathed heavily. "Wha... what the..."

King came in for another hit, but Spartan dodged to one side. "Missed-"

Something scratched across his stomach, and he fell to the ground, unable to get up. The pain was so intense, he lost consciousness...

Spartan's body was drained of color as he became just as corrupted as King was. Slowly getting up, he gathered energy to his hands. Cupping his palms together, he released a blast that would've made any supervillain proud. The night became as bright- no, brighter than day for a split second. Then the beam was retracted, and corrupted Spartan followed corrupted King away from the remnants of the mountain.