Epics of Noche 4, Asylum

EON CH 33

DLC MARBLE.

1777, APRIL 04th, MONDAY 5:30am.

Noche rested as the helicopter flew over the waves before a beeping came over the console.

"Hey Madam President, we have something coming our way," Shaylin said.

Medusa studied the radar before turning to face everyone behind her.

"Dreg. Why do we have multiple missiles flying towards us?"

The white-haired general scowled as he faced Medusa.

"The Grave brothers didn't do a great job appeasing the United Government. They did the bare minimum in fighting DeathTech to give the appearance of being cooperative," he said. "Tensions have been thick, so I'm not surprised Raven's planetary-sized pillar of corruption sent them over the edge."

"And they think nukes will stop the threat?" Shaylin said. "If Raven can do an attack large enough to be seen from space, then what makes them think a few nukes can harm him?"

"Their logic has always been rooted in fear. With demonstrations of power like Raven's, it's no wonder they're panicking," Medusa said. "From their perspective, we could destroy the world at any moment... And they're right. We could."

"Guess I'll go deal with it," Dreg said.

"Wait," Noche interrupted. "Let me."

Most of the heads in the cabin turned to her.

"Are you sure?" Medusa asked.

"I've been cooped up in that asylum, drained of drive, for two years. It's time I see the results of that torture."

Medusa nodded and Noche unbuckled her seatbelt. She stood, raised her right arm, and closed her one eye. It was like ice flooding her body, it had been so long since she used create that she had almost forgotten the tingling sensation. An orb of water, air, and lightning began to coalesce before her palm. It was small and feeble; barely larger than a marble.

"Noche, it's only been a few hours. If your drive hasn't stabilized you don't need to force your..."

Medusa's voice froze as strands of hair started to float off her head and towards the marble. As more and more power gathered into the orb wires, clothing, and all sorts of loose things began to float toward it.

Noche's charging DLC was so dense that it began to have a gravity well. A blue compass formed around Noche's wrist, then a white ship's wheel around her bicep, followed by a giant yellow anchor behind Noche's back.

"The nukes are coming due west," Noche said.

Medusa looked at the terminal and turned back to Noche.

"Yes. How did you know that?"

"Just instinct," Noche said. "I can't explain it. After spending all that time motionless in my cell, my sense of time and space just sharpened."

She stepped towards the edge of the helicopter and aimed west. She narrowed her eye before cracking her neck.

"Dead light cannon. Level four."

Noche fired and the helicopter shook from the immense gravity that ripped away from it. Water shot up into the air as if a jet ski was racing below the small marble. It reached the approaching missiles in a matter of seconds. Then it exploded.

From the chaos was a wall of water that shot up beyond the clouds — it encompassed the flaming mushroom clouds like they were small red string lights trapped in an aquarium of blue glass. The wall of water ripped a seam from the north pole to the south pole. Cracking sheets of ice as it tore across the planet.

The tidal wave that followed was the largest ever witnessed in all of human history. For a moment it was motionless, a massive wall of blue with a few tiny spots of glowing red at its base. Then the vacuum began.

Despite the distance from the attack, the helicopter was sent flipping towards the suction. Trio had to use telekinesis to stop the mechanical bird from being pulled into the epicenter. All the clouds and most of the ocean below were sucked into the core of Noche's marble — as if it was a cosmic black hole that appeared from nowhere.

The following lightning explosion would have been enough to destroy the moon. For a brief moment, everyone was blinded and deafened by the explosion. Golden arcs of electricity were visible from space in the form of giant arcing branches. Enough energy to power the planet for years exploding in one instant.

Everything it touched was disinterested.

When the blinding light vanished and when the helicopter stilled, the planet's ocean level had become noticeably shorter. In one attack Noche had altered the ecosystem of the entire globe. She stood there and took in the destruction as massive tsunamis raced across the surface of the now smaller ocean.

"Well... I knew I'd be powerful, but I wasn't expecting that," she said. "That was actually kind of terrifying."

"You're probably around half-gen," Dreg said.

"You're telling me two years surrounded by the largest collection of drivemetal on the planet and I'm only half as powerful as a general?"

"You forgot we have the power to destroy the planet in a single punch. Normally the gap is almost insurmountable."

"Uhh, bruh. Is that little display of Noche's gonna cause trouble in the humane world?"

"Oh definitely," Medusa said. "But it should also remind them of what exactly they're dealing with."

She turned to face the blonde.

"I hope you know, out of the ten million or so total create users alive right now, only a few dozen are even a tenth as strong as a general," she said. "Now that your half gen, a lot of eyes are going to follow you. Both by Cross and the United Government."

Noche turned to stare at the ocean, still roiling in chaotic destruction.

"So the world will be watching. Got it."

The helicopter was silent save for the whirring of the mechanic blades above. A red glow started to occur in the sky; Noche turned towards the east. She walked across the helicopter to the opening on the other side. The violet sky was slowly turning crimson.

How long had it been since she'd last seen it? Before the war probably. Even when she was inside DeathTech the entire time was spent underground. By the time she escaped Limbo and came back to the real world, it was already dark out. She was sentenced to the asylum before the following morning.

In a way, Noche had been in the dark for the last two years. So when it rose with light unfettered, its purity amplified by the waves, bright and all-encompassing, it overwhelmed her. It was glorious. It was brilliant. It shone like Jack.

"N-Noche, are you ok?"

She blinked; a stream of tears fell down her face.

"No. I'm not," she muttered. "This sight was his dream. He was supposed to see this."

Noche stared at the sun as it crested the horizon. Its radiance washed away the dark, but also caused her to reminisce about the past. About the loss of her friend.

"Fuck," she whispered. "Two years. It's been two years. Why does it still hurt?"

She stood there and let the tears stream down her face as she basked in the sun. The night had passed and the light had come. A new dawn had begun.

END OF BOOK 4 OF 8.